A New Beginning A NaruHina fic
by ForsakenAng3l
Summary: This is my first Fanfic. It's a NaruHina where Hinata gathers the courage to talk to Naruto on his tenth birthday while he is training. She's about to help him when two unknown ninja appear in the training field, battling each other. Neither Naruto nor Hinata know how much of an impact these two newcomers will have on their ninja lives.
1. Team Seven

**A New Beginning**

**Chapter 1: Team Seven**

_This is my first Fanfic, I really hope you guys like it. Please review. Also, I do not own Naruto whatsoever. So please don't sue me._

**LEGEND: "…" speech**

** '…' thinking**

** (…) probably authors notes**

** - Scene change**

It was Naruto's tenth birthday today and Hinata wanted to do something for him. Even though she was so shy and had no idea what to do, she knew she had to do something for the orange clad academy student. Hinata watched him from a distance as he practiced his cloning techniques, which failed miserably every time he tried to use them. She knew his chakra control was terrible, that's why he failed to replicate with a simple clone every time. She watched on as Naruto tried and tried but failed every time. Finally she gathered up all of her courage and decided to act, walking over to him. Little did Naruto know that he was being watched as he tried to replicate once again. This time he put as much concentration as he could into the jutsu, pushing so much chakra out that the attempted clone exploded in a huge cloud of smoke. Naruto fell back from the explosion and cursed under his breath.

"Argh! Why can't I ever get this right?" Naruto question himself angrily.

"Umm, N-Naruto-kun?" said a quiet voice through the smoke.

Naruto jumped up and yelled, "Who's there?" The wind picked up and carried the smoke away to reveal Hinata twiddling her fingers together and blushing as she usually did when she was around Naruto. "H-Hinata? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Umm… I was watching you practice…" she said blushing.

"Really?" asked Naruto confused.

"Because I want to help you get better. I hate to see you fail Naruto…" she trailed off.

"Hinata… that's the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me," Naruto told her smiling, making her blush deeply.

"Really? T-thanks…" she was quiet for a moment. "Naruto-kun, happy-" she was cut off as somebody yelled coming into the training ground.

"You won't beat me this time either Rin-nechan!" a kid wielding a short katana yelled. The boy had dark raven colored hair and his eyes had a slight shade of purple to them. He wore black pants with a matching black shirt and a long black coat that reached to his ankles, all with light grey outlines. His boots were also a similar black color. An empty black sheath with the same light grey outline as his clothing was tied to his waist under the coat. His sword clashed against another sword of similar size.

The person he was facing was quite a few years older. She had purple hair that was tied in a ponytail all the way down her back. Her eyes were paler in comparisons to the boys; almost like Hinata's eyes, although they weren't devoid of pupils. She wore clothing of white with red outlines in the same patterns as the black clad boy with boots of white and a bigger heel. Her pants, however, came to mid-calf and were also a half dress that only covered the back part of her. The dress part came down to her ankles like the boys coat. The shoulders of her top were also missing, leaving it to be held up by the front and back only; and a typical chunnin flak jacket was worn over top, and it also was white with red outlines instead of the traditional dark green. She also wore a sheath of pure white with red outlines on her hip.

"You always say that Tatsumi," his older sister yelled back and blocked a small flurry of blows.

"Charge, Seraphim!" Tatsumi yelled. His sword became covered in black lightning as he lunged toward Rin who smirked in return.

"Fine. We'll play that way," Rin said calmly as she raised her sword to her eyes. "Charge, Cherubim!" Her blade became wreathed in pure white lightning as soon as her younger brother's attack reached her. As the two blades collided with another, a loud burst of thunder tore through the air, knocking Hinata and Naruto back a few feet. They watched in awe as the two siblings battled it out right in front of them. The had never before laid eyes on two people fighting with such force before, especially not a chunnin and what looked to be an academy student.

The battle went on for a little while before the siblings were facing each other, forty feet apart, both panting heavily, holding their swords at eye level. Lightning was no longer visible on their blades.

"Charge!" they called in unison

"Seraphim!"

"Cherubim!" both swords lit up in an instant.

"You won't win this time little brother," Rin raised her sword into the air and began charging an attack.

Tatsumi did the same with his sword and called to his sister, "You've never beat me before and you certainly won't this time, Rin-nechan!"

Their attacks finished as the sky settled into a deep gray. Lightning forked across the sky and melded together at two different points in the sky. Two dragon-like creatures formed out the lightning that was gathering as Naruto and Hinata watched on they felt the air filling with static. The two other academy students also noticed an unfamiliar presence behind them. They turned and looked up only to see a Leaf jounin standing there watching the battle rage on. The man had gray hair that flopped to the right and a mask covering his neck and face up to his nose. His clothes, flak jacket, and shoes were all a navy blue color. He was also wearing his Leaf headband over his left eye only leaving his right eye, which was trained onto the battle, and a small area around that uncovered.

The sibling's attacks finished charging leaving a dragon of black lightning and another of white flying in the sky. "Now face the wrath of the Sky! Kirin!" the siblings yelled in unison as they sent their respective attacks at the other. The dragons roared in unison and flew down at their opponent. Just before the attacks reached each other the jounin appeared in between them with two handfuls of blue lightning in the palms of both hands. The dragons and balls of lightning meet each other just before any damage could be done to the siblings. The jounin yelled and destroyed the dragons easily as he pushed them back with his own attack. The blasts from the dragons knocked the sibling and the other two academy students on their backs.

"What are the two of you doing!" yelled the blue clad jounin as the siblings recovered from the blast. They both stood up slowly, sheathing their swords as they did, and came to stand in front of the jounin. Anger flared in his eye as the siblings bowed their head.

"We're sorry Kakashi-sensei," the duo mumbled.

"Sorry wouldn't cut it if either of those attacks had landed," Kakashi said angrily as he motioned to a stunned Naruto and Hinata. "What if that attack had hit either of them and they died?"

The siblings looked ashamed as they noticed Naruto and Hinata for the first time. Kakashi sighed and put his hands on his student's shoulders. "I know that the two of you are only trying to get stronger, but using attacks like that on each other will only get you and others around you killed. Now go apologize to those kids over there." The siblings walked over to Naruto and Hinata, hanging their heads low.

Rin was the first to speak up "We're sorry for getting the two of you caught up in that."

"It's just once we get into training mode we kinda forget about everything that it around us," Tatsumi chuckled nervously. The two academy students simply smiled.

"THAT WAS THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN!" exclaimed Naruto, startling the other three. "You've gotta teach me how to do that!"

"It's not something we can teach," Tatsumi said as he drew his sword from his sheath. "It's all thanks to these two. This is Seraphim by the way." The sword glowed and a spectral image appeared beside Tatsumi in the shape of a wolf with all black fur.

The wolf yawned and looked up at Tatsumi, "What do you want, baka?" the wolf speaking made Naruto and Hinata jump back. Tatsumi shot a glare at the wolf.

"Seraphim, you really shouldn't pick fights with you master," a female voice stated from out of nowhere. Another spectral image appeared beside Rin, only this one was a lynx with snow white fur.

"Shut up!" the wolf yelled.

"Umm… who are they?" Hinata asked quietly, scooting closer to Naruto.

"These two are our swords," Rin said. "This is Cherubim," she motioned to the lynx, who licked her lips in response, "and that over there is Seraphim." The wolf looked at her hearing his name.

"I'm a 'Who' not a 'That'!" he said angrily, almost snarling.

"Yes, yes. Whatever you say," Rin chuckled "By the way, my name is Rin Uchia. And this is my little brother Tatsumi." She ruffled his hair a bit. "We just transferred to the Leaf from the Hidden Flower village."

"Our adopted father grew tired of us being there to disturb his "perfect" life," Tatsumi murmured angrily.

"Let's just say that he wasn't a very good father figure for these two to look up to," Kakashi said as he walked up to the group. "Tatsumi here will be starting at the academy tomorrow. I hope that the two of you will show him around tomorrow," said the jounin kindly to them. "And now if you will excuse me and Rin, we need to go and finish their registrations." The jounin and chunnin disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Tatsumi looked over at Hinata truly for the first time since their encounter. 'Wow! She looks so pretty!' he thought to himself and began imagining himself on a date with her. It was then that he noticed the way her body language showed him that she clearly had feelings for the blonde boy beside her. Tatsumi smirked to himself, 'He clearly has no idea what's going on.'

"You can fight against your sister pretty easily, even for just being an academy student. I would never be able to fight like that," Hinata said.

"Yeah! That's awesome! I can't even make a simple clone, let alone release a large attack like that," Naruto said, disappointed about it.

"The clone jutsu?" Tatsumi inquired. "It's really simple, but then again you may not be able to do the clone jutsu due to the fact that you may have way too much chakra in your body. Here why don't you try this jutsu instead?" Tatsumi questioned as he reached into his weapons pouch and brought out a scroll and handed it to Naruto.

"What's this?" asked Naruto taking the scroll and unfurling it.

"It's the jutsu formula for the Shadow Clone jutsu. It may be suited better to you than the Clone jutsu," Tatsumi said. "Well then, if you shall excuse me, I need to get back to my sister and Kakashi-sensei. See ya 'round." He said as he too disappeared in a cloud of smoke only to leave a small log where he was just standing.

"He substituted away," Hinata said turning to Naruto. "Are you gonna need help with that?"

"You don't have to help me Hinata-chan, nobody ever does anyway. I'll be fine," Naruto said quietly.

At those words she embraced Naruto, her courage flaring up like a roman candle. "I want to help you Naruto-kun!" she said almost crying at his words.

Naruto was stunned to hear this. He had never heard words like that directed towards him. He was too stunned to move, let alone speak. "H-Hinata-chan?" he managed to choke out after a few moments.

Hearing his voice made her remember her shyness as she released the boy, blushing very brightly. "I want to help you get stronger, Naruto-kun. It is your birthday after all," she said quietly.

The boy looked at her with eyes full a pain, but more importantly, happiness was also making an appearance. Happiness he had never felt before until now. He grinned great big and hugged Hinata tightly, making her blush an even deeper crimson. "Thank you Hinata-chan!" Naruto beamed. She smiled at him and sat down in the grass prompting him to do the same. As he did she took the scroll from him and began to explain the workings of jutsu.

Meanwhile in the tree line a short distance away, Rin and Tatsumi stood against a tree and watched the exchange. "Why'd you do it? You could've won her heart if you truly tried to, ya know?" Rin asked to her little brother.

"Yes, I realize that, Nechan. But she clearly had her heart set on him and I couldn't ruin that," he said simply. His older sister was always amazed and her younger brother's maturity despite his age.

"Hmph. Let's go and leave them be," she said smiling and lept into the trees towards the Hokage's office. Tatsumi did the same, following his sister.

A few years later in class at the academy Iruka was giving his usual lecture to his class. As usual Naruto, Hinata, and Tatsumi all sat together. The three had all become great friends over the last few years. They had become much stronger, even more mature. Naruto had learned of his wind chakra nature and Hinata her water nature. Now they sat together listening to Iruka as he explained the graduation test to his students.

"Alright, your final test is going to be over the clone jutsu," Iruka told the class. A few groans were produced from the class, but Naruto looked confident. "When your name is called you may proceed into the testing room. First up is Tatsumi Uchia," Iruka said. He stood and followed him into the testing room. At hearing the name Uchia, a boy with darker colored raven hair perked up.

"Uchia…" the boy murmured. "I thought I was the only one left besides…" he trailed off and put his hands up to his mouth.

The testing went on well into the hour until Naruto's name was called. He stood and Hinata smiled at him encouragingly. He followed Iruka into the testing room and stood in front of him and another teacher with white hair wearing his Leaf headband around his neck. His name was Mizuki. "Alright Naruto, let's see the clone jutsu," Mizuki said rather bluntly.

Naruto simply nodded and formed his stance. He made a cross with his index and middle fingers from both hands and called, "Shadow Clone jutsu!" A perfect replica of Naruto appeared right beside him.

The two teachers were stunned that the boy who could hardly create a regular clone was able to make a solid Shadow Clone. "That's not the jutsu we asked for Naruto," Mizuki said rather coldly toward Naruto. That particular teacher has always been cold toward Naruto.

"He was still able to replicate like the others, Mizuki-sensei," Iruka stated. "Even if it was a much higher jutsu than the others he still gets the passing grade from me. And I'm sure the other teachers would agree with me."

Mizuki grunted and nodded, "Very well. He gets a passing grade, but I still think his cockiness should lose him that grade." Without another word from Mizuki, Iruka walked out of the room with Naruto and back to the other room. "Looks like I'll have to get the Scroll of Sealing another way…" he pondered to himself.

As Naruto walked into the classroom Iruka called another student to go and take the graduation test. The orange clad boy walked back to his seat beside Hinata and Tatsumi and sat down. "That went great! And I even stuck to baka Mizuki," Naruto beamed.

Hinata smiled at him, "Good job, Naruto-kun." She grabbed his hand and kissed him on the cheek, making him smile brightly.

"Thanks, Hinata-chan," he replied warmly.

The rest of the people who hadn't tested yet finally finished. The last person to test and Iruka walked back into the classroom. "Congratulations to all of you! You graduate!" he said happily as the entire class erupted in cheers. Shortly after the commotion died down and each student had their Leaf headbands on them, Iruka stood in front of the class. "Alright, now that you've all become genins you're going to be put on squads of three and two squads of four. We had an uneven number of students this year, so only one squad will be receiving four people. I'll now announce those squads. Squad one…" Iruka began calling out the squad teams.

"Now for Squad Seven: Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuuga, and Tatsumi Uchia," Iruka said. The three of them all looked at each other and grinned. "Squad Eight: Sasuke Uchia, Sakura Haruno, and Kiba Inuzuka." Sakura cheered loudly in her head and turned to her rival grinning evilly.

"Rrgh!" the girl growled at Sakura.

"What's your deal?" a boy with his hair tied into a tight ponytail towards the top of his head asked lazily.

"She got Sasuke on her squad! But of course your too lazy to understand something like this Shikamaru," the girl said.

"Of course I don't understand. It's 'cause I'm not a girl," Shikamaru stated with a slight yawn.

"Man I'd really hate to be stuck on a team with you," she said.

"And now finally Squad Ten: Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara…" Iruka began.

"HAH! What was that about hating to be on my squad?" Shikamaru laughed.

Ino glared at him as Iruka finished naming the people on that squad. "And Chouji Akimichi." Ino put her head in her hands and sighed loudly in frustration. "Now for the final two people to be placed on squads. Shino Aburame, you will join Squad Eight and Karin Uzumaki, you will be joining Squad Seven." Shino simply pushed his sunglasses up more onto his face. Karin sort of blushed when she heard the squad she was being put on. "Now class is dismissed for lunch. Afterword's you will all meet your jounin instructors." Iruka left the room as the class began to talk some of the teams got up and left. Sasuke, however, got up and walked over Tatsumi and blocked his path as Squad Seven got up to leave.

"Hang on. I need to talk to you. Why is your last name Uchia?" demanded Sasuke.

Tatsumi was a little shocked at this sudden approach, but held his ground. "Because my Otosan was an Uchia," he said simply.

"What was his name? Was your mother and Uchia as well?" Sasuke was getting angry.

"Actually no my mother was actually a Hyuuga. Just like Hinata-chan," he smiled at her shocked face. "As for my father, his name was Itachi."

Hearing that name Sasuke grabbed Tatsumi by the collar of his shirt and threw him up against the wall. Every eye in the room turned to see what was happening. "Did you just say Itachi Uchia was your father?!" Sasuke asked angrily.

"Yes. Now could you let me down? Clearly your anger is aimed more towards Itachi and not me. Would you care to tell me why?" Tatsumi inquired.

Sasuke calmed down a bit and released Tatsumi, "He's my older brother. The man who murdered the entire Uchia clan in a single night. The man who I am going to murder with my own hands."

Tatsumi was shocked to hear this, knowing every word of it was true from the way Sasuke acted. "I'm sorry. I had no idea what Otosan did…"

Sasuke shook his head and left the room. Meanwhile the rest of Squad Eight had gathered together and were leaving for lunch. Karin made her way slowly to Squad Seven and tapped Tatsumi on the shoulder lightly. Tatsumi turned to see a very pretty girl standing behind him. She had red hair that went past her shoulders. She wore a set of plain grey glasses over a pair of naturally light pink eyes that Tatsumi thought looked really good on her. The jacket she wore was purple and she was wearing short shorts with thigh high boots. "Umm. Can I have lunch with you guys?" she asked quietly, pushing her glasses up her nose nervously.

The trio grinned and in unison, "Sure!" Karin smiled and the four took off to Naruto and Hinata's favorite training ground.

As the four new comrades sat together at the memorial stone training ground they chatted amongst themselves. Naruto turned to Karin "Iruka said that your last name is Uzumaki, right?" he asked.

"Yes, it is. I think that the two of us are actually cousins like Sasuke and Tatsumi here," Karin replied to Naruto glancing at Tatsumi as she did.

Naruto smiled, "It's good to know that I have at least one person out there that I'm related to that isn't dead."

Karin looked at him, "Is everyone that was closely related to you dead too?"

Naruto simply nodded, his eyes pained at the thought of it. But they quickly changed as he looked up from his cup of instant ramen. "But I've got Hinata-chan too look after me! And now I have a cousin I didn't know I had until today," he grinned brightly.

Hinata blushed at his comment, and then remembered what Tatsumi had said earlier about his mother being a Hyuuga. "Tatsumi-kun, you said that your mother was a Hyuuga. Do you know her name?" Hinata asked him.

Tatsumi nodded, "Actually yes I do. Her name was Mariko. Rin-onesan said they left us in the care of the leader of a group of spice traders from the Hidden Flower village when I was only three; so I don't remember much about her, my father neither. Today I received a bit of shocking information about him though…" Tatsumi trailed off. "I wonder if Onesan knows."

They ate the rest of their lunches in silence before standing up and started to head back to the academy. Naruto then decided to try and cheer everyone up. "Hey, we just became genins!" he shouted and raised his fist in the air.

"Believe it!" both him and Karin yell in unison. The whole group laughed at that.

"I guess that verbal tic runs in the family," Naruto said laughing.

"It probably does, ya know?" Karin chuckled.

Meanwhile in the Hokage's office, a group of jounins gathered around his desk. The Hokage was quite old wearing the traditional white kimono with red patterns symbolizing him as the Hokage. His hat was also white except for the front of the hat, which was red and had the kanji for fire on it in black. In that group of jounins stood Kakashi and Rin. "You've all got your teams are there any questions?" the Hokage asked. Rin raised her hand. "Yes Rin?"

"I was wondering if it would at all be possible if I could trade with Kakashi-san?" she asked.

The old man took a puff on his pipe and blew smoke out from his mouth. "Only if it were ok with Kakashi." The Hokage looked to said jounin.

Kakashi shrugged, "I don't have a problem with it my old subordinate." Rin smiled at that.

"Very well. Any other questions?" the Hokage asked and looked around the room. When nobody else said anything he nodded. "You're all dismissed then." All the jounins bowed and left his office leaving the Hokage to his duties. "Hehe. Rin, I have a feeling that you're gonna have a tough time with that squad," he chuckled to himself as he went back to his paperwork.

Back in the classroom after lunch had ended and all the other squads had left, only one remained. That would be none other than Squad Seven. The four genins all sat together talking when Naruto stood up. "This is bull! All the other teams have left and are probably going on their first missions while we are here stuck waiting for our teacher to get here," he fumed. "That does it!" he walked over to the chalkboard and grabbed an eraser and poured some powdered chalk down into the bristles to give extra effect before positioning it between the sliding door and the wall tightly so that when somebody entered the room, it would hit them in the head. Naruto grinned evilly at his plan as he got down from the chair he was standing in.

"Baka, our teacher is a jounin! There's no way they would fall for something like that, believe it," Karin told him.

Just as she said that a hand reached into the door and pulled it open. Everyone was shocked to see the eraser hit and obscure the head of the jounin who walked in with a cloud of dust. The jounin instantly started to cough and hack up the chalk dust. "That's unpleasant," a female voice said making Tatsumi perk up.

"Nechan?" he asked as the dust cleared, revealing Rin covered in white chalk powder. Tatsumi and Naruto then proceeded to burst into laughter at the look of her.

"I can't believe that actually worked," Karin said stunned. 'Is she really a jounin?' she and Hinata thought at the same time.

"Please forgive Naruto-kun for that," Hinata asked her quietly

"Well, first I'd like to say to anyone who isn't my little brother, I'm sorry you have to be on his team," Rin chuckled, earning a glare from Tatsumi. "Second," her voice from behind everyone said as her shadow clone covered in chalk powder disappeared, "you couldn't have possibly thought I'd fall for something like that."

Karin smirked and Hinata looked a little surprised. 'I guess she really is a jounin,' they thought in unison again.

"Now let's go to the roof. I'm sure you're all tired of being in this classroom," she said and the disappeared in a puff of smoke. The four genins all rose and quickly went to the roof to find Rin sitting against the railing watching the clouds lazily. As the four walked up she looked to them and motioned for them to sit on the stairs directly in front of her. "Alright, that's better. Now let's begin with introductions. My name is Rin Uchia, Tatsumi's older sister. I like to sit under the sky on nice days like this and just watch the clouds roll by. I'm not too fond of Tatsumi sometimes, but I really can't stand perverts. My dream for the future is to find mine and Tatsumi's mother and father and bring them back to the Leaf. Now it's your guys turn," she said.

Tatsumi looked up, "Well most of you know me. I'm Rin-nechan's little brother. I like training with Naruto, Hinata, and Rin-nechan. I really don't like people who abuse their power. And my dream for the future is the same as my sisters."

Rin smiled at her brother. "Alright, you in the orange. Your turn," she said.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen from Ichiraku Ramen and I really like Hinata-chan," he said grabbing her hand, making her blush; something she rarely did anymore. "I don't like being looked down upon people who don't me very well, but I put a smile on my face anyway. And my dream for the future is to become the Hokage. That way I will know I earned the respect of everybody in the village!" he finished casting a glance to Hokage monument of the Leaf village.

"That's a tough dream to reach. Good luck," Rin said, turning her attention to Hinata, nodding for her to go.

"My name is Hinata Hyuuga. I like spending time with Naruto-kun and Naruto-kun himself. I don't like the way people of the village treat him at all and I especially don't like the Caged Bird seal of the Branch family of the Hyuuga. My dream for the future is to abolish the seal in hopes that the Main and Branch families will get along in harmony," Hinata finished looking at Naruto and smiling.

'Hm, she must be the girl mother spoke about…' Rin nodded and turned to Karin. "Alright you're up," she said to the girl.

"My name is Karin Uzumaki; I'm Naruto-kun's cousin. There is a person that I like but I'd rather not say who it is. I don't like the fact that I don't have enough courage to confront said person, but I hope to gain more confidence in myself to say something. And my dream for the future is to become a great medical ninja like Tsunade of the Sannin," Karin finished.

'Oh Tatsumi, you can always tell when other people have their hearts set on each other, but when it comes to you, you are completely clueless,' Rin chuckled to herself then stood up from where she was sitting. "Alright, you four. Tomorrow we are gonna have our first mission. It'll be a simple bit of survival training," Rin said.

"Survival training?" Naruto questioned.

"But I though we already learned that back at the academy? Aren't we full-fledged genins?" Karin asked.

"Yeah, what was that graduation test for then anyway?" Hinata stood up.

"Oh that? That was to see how many of you might become genins. Of all thirty-two of you who just graduated only three teams usually pass. Rarely does more than three pass. And also the chances of you failing are about sixty-six percent," Rin said with no emotion in her voice.

The other three stood up beside Hinata and started to question why this was happening, but Rin's raised hand silenced them. "Meet me tomorrow at the Memorial Stone training grounds at 7 am. Oh and you better not eat any breakfast, or else you'll puke." With that she vanished in a cloud of smoke.

"That's so unfair!" Naruto yelled to nobody in particular. He was calmed down as Hinata slipped her hand into his.

"Don't worry guys; she just said that to make the match harder on us. I remember Kakashi-sensei talking about a similar exercise when we first came back to the Leaf village. If my memory serves me correctly it'll be a bell snatching exercise. We need to use teamwork to get them. But here's the problem: there are only two bells. This test is designed to pit us against one another. Tomorrow morning we need to overcome that fact and put the mission before us instead of deciding who gets a bell and who doesn't. I say we all go over to Naruto's apartment tonight since his is the biggest place, I'm guessing. That way we can plan out for how we are going to take the bells from my sister tomorrow." With that everyone agreed and left to go to their respective homes.

Karin went to her apartment and packed herself a bag and put a good amount of her weapons into it, knowing she'd need them tomorrow. Meanwhile Hinata strode into the Hyuuga mansion and did the same. Once she was finished packing she went to the Hyuuga records to look for anybody named Mariko, but found nothing. Tatsumi made sure to pack a lot of his traps into his bag then looked at a picture of his father, mother, sister, and him before everything was ripped apart. He sighed inwardly, 'I'll bring you both back. I promise.' He then departed to Naruto's.

Naruto on the other hand instead of packing, he was cleaning up his very messy apartment. Instant ramen cups were strewn everywhere along with multiple chopsticks. Naruto frantically cleaned as best as he could, finally getting all the trash bagged up. Now he had to work on getting all of his clothes off the floor. An easy task, yet very large. He needed to do laundry soon. Once that was finished he decided to put some tea on to brew before everyone got there. He grabbed the trash and headed for the door when he heard a knock. Naruto quickly hid the trash in his closet not wanting any on his team to see it all. Once he finally forced the door shut, he wiped his brow on his sleeve then went to the door. He opened it to find Hinata was the first one to arrive.

"H-Hinata-chan," he said surprised. He just remembered that Hinata had never been over to his place before. "Come in," he smiled.

She smiled back and walked in kissing him on the cheek as she did, her shyness mostly gone from all the time she spent with him. She took her shoes off by the door as Naruto shut it behind her. "Hello, Naruto-kun," she said to him as she set her bag down by the couch.

"Were Tatsumi and Karin not with you?" Naruto asked.

"They were still a ways behind me when I got here. I wanted to be the first one here to spend some alone time with my Naru-kun," she said smiling and blushing slightly.

Naruto blushed slightly at this turning to her. "WH-what?" he choked on a drink of his tea, nearly dropping the one he had for Hinata.

"I said I wanted to spend some time alone with my Naru-kun," she told him still smiling.

Naruto smiled at her words and set her tea in front of her. "So, if I'm your 'Naru-kun' does that make you my 'Hina-chan'?" he asked her as he sat down beside her.

She blushed when he said that and took her tea to sip on it. "Y-yes. Yes it does," she murmured quietly into her cup of tea. She set the cup down on the coffee table and turned to Naruto. "Um, Naru-kun?" she asked blushing deeply.

"Yeah, Hina-chan?" Naruto replied sitting down and watching her closely.

She leaned towards him, eyes locked with his. 'I've got to show him how I truly feel about him,' she thought to herself as she leaned even closer. Their faces were only inches apart. Hinata's heartbeat was in her throat, her face was redder than a tomato, and sweat dropped from her forehead. She had never been this close to Naruto before, well this close and alone with him. She closed her eyes and gathered all of her courage together before she closed the distance between the two of them. She lightly kissed Naruto on the lips then pulled away from him, cheering loudly in her mind.

Naruto was stunned when she kissed him. "H-Hina-chan, what was that for?" he asked her, choking on his heartbeat almost.

"B-Because, I love you. I always have, Naru-kun," she said quietly, blushing deeper.

He smiled at her words, "I think deep down I have always loved you too, Hina-chan." He then leaned over and kissed her himself, startling her before she returned the kiss.

At that exact moment, Karin and Tatsumi stopped by Ichiraku to grab a bite to eat before heading to Naruto's apartment. They sat down and ordered when Tatsumi turned to Karin. "So… who or what was the thing that you liked earlier?" he asked inquiringly.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out," she said smirking at him.

"Oh come on! Please tell me," Tatsumi pleaded. Karin simply shook her head and started to eat as the ramen was set in front of them. Tatsumi looked over to a wall and noticed Naruto's picture hung up with a banner over it. The banner read "Customer of the Month".

"Hey Ojisan," Tatsumi called to the owner, turning his head back in the direction of him.

He turned around to look at Tatsumi, "Yes sir?"

"I noticed you have Naruto's picture on the wall over there. Does he come in here very often?"

"Oh yeah. He's been coming in here every day since he was five. He was always so bright and cheery even after the way people always treated him. He never took that bright smile from his face," the old man told Tatsumi and Karin.

Tatsumi smirked, "That sounds like Naruto." He turned his head to his bowl of ramen and began eating. Once the meal was finished and paid for Tatsumi and Karin started to walk towards Naruto's place. They soon arrived since Naruto's apartment was only a five minute walk from Ichiraku. They walked up to his floor and knocked on his door.

Naruto opened the door "Yo Tatsumi, Karin! Where'd you guys go?"

"We decided to stop and get something to eat before we came over. Can we come in?" Tatsumi asked.

"Yeah sure. Want some tea?" Naruto asked the. They both nodded as they walked inside taking their shoes off by Naruto's and Hinata's. The two sat down as Naruto brought them both a cup of tea each. "Tatsumi, since you know more about this exercise tomorrow than we do why don't you explain it to us," Naruto inquired.

Tatsumi set his tea down on the coffee table and looked to the other three who had their eyes trained on him. "Basically, the whole thing is based on teamwork. When me and Onesan fought Kakashi-sensei, he had us use teamwork to take the bells from him. Even though I had chunnin level amounts of chakra at the time and Onesan had jounin amounts, we had an extremely hard time doing so. It took us until after midnight before we finally got the bells. Luckily this time though I know how the jounin fights," Tatsumi smirked to himself.

Tatsumi leaned forward, producing a scroll from his weapons pouch and a pen to write with. "Alright, my sister uses lightning based attacks; the same as me. I know a lot of her jutsu, but she may have learned some new ones. She is a jounin after all. Hinata won't be able to go up against her very well since her chakra nature is based on water. She should only use taijutsu against Rin. Onesan was never good at taijutsu ever. And since Hinata's specialty is Gentle Fist, we can use that to block off her chakra points."

Tatsumi then turned to Naruto, "Naruto since you use wind style ninjutsu, you can reflect her lightning back and keep on attacking better than me since mine and hers will only cancel each other's out. I can face my sister using Seraphim up to an extent, but she's always been better than me at swordplay. Although she's never beaten me in sparring matches, she always trumps my sword fighting; but in the end my stamina wins out."

Tatsumi was silent for a moment then turned to Karin this time. "As for you Karin, what kind of fighting style do you use?"

"I prefer to use medical ninjutsu and support type jutsu," she said. "I have a special Kekkei Genkai that allows me to heal people through biting. I can also sense people's chakra. For instance," she turned to Hinata, "Hinata's chakra is kind and gentle but it's also strong and protective. Tatsumi's chakra is strong; it's almost at jounin level. It's a very warm chakra with what feels like a guardian angel watching over it."

Tatsumi shot a quick glance towards her, "It must be Seraphim's chakra infused with mine."

Karin looked at him with a slightly worried look but shrugged it off, "Maybe so. Anyway," she turned to Naruto, "Naruto's chakra is warm as well but also-" she cut herself off as she felt the demonic chakra encircling Naruto's chakra network. She began to shake uncontrollably as she felt the dark presence inside of Naruto. Every set of eyes turned to Karin who was speechless. She looked like she had just seen Death.

"Karin-chan, what is it?" Tatsumi asked worried.

"She's in a state of shock," an unknown voice said as Seraphim manifested in his pure black wolf form. "She felt the demonic chakra of the Kyuubi. His chakra is very evil and full of hate. Now as to why she felt that chakra is because the Kyuubi is sealed inside of Naruto. And from what I can tell the Kyuubi has been sealed inside of the boy since the day he was born."

Everyone turned to a shocked Naruto. "Did you say the Kyuubi?" Naruto asked quietly.

Seraphim nodded, "Yes dear boy."

Everyone was silent for a moment. Then Hinata spoke up, "Well even if he has the Kyuubi sealed away inside of him, he's still Naruto-kun! That's all he'll ever be!" she said angrily but not directed towards anyone in the room.

"Yeah that's true," Karin said. "Besides if he was the Kyuubi don't you think he would've destroyed the Hidden Leaf by this point? There's no way Naruto is that demon."

Tatsumi turned to Naruto, "I have a very important question to ask you. What day were you born?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Karin asked confused.

"Just tell me please," Tatsumi said to Naruto.

"October 10th, thirteen years ago. Why?" Naruto was confused at this.

"I was born on the same day. I also became a Jinchuriki the day I was born. And I'm guessing you did too," Tatsumi told him.

"I guess so. All this is news to me," Naruto shrugged. "I don't see why any of that is relevant though."

"Because that would make us twin Jinchuriki. When two people who are born on the same day also become Jinchuriki on that day the two are twins in a way. Here, bump fists with me everybody. There's someone I'd like you all to meet," Tatsumi said as he raised his fist. The others all did the same as Tatsumi did a half tiger seal and closed his eyes.

The four teammates opened their eyes to look around a dimly lit cave; torches lined the walls on both sides. Tatsumi stood in the center of the cave and made a few rapid hand seals, ending in the ram seal. Instantly the scenery changed to a forest in the middle of winter. The others were wowed at the quick scene change.

"You've brought visitors today, little Tatsumi?" asked a female voice from behind that seemed to growl as it spoke. Everyone turned to see a huge wolf with nine tails lying in a clearing like a sphinx. Naruto, Hinata, and Karin all jumped back and took defensive stances, ready for an attack. "Oh please. I'm not gonna attack you. I'm not like the other tailed beasts. I'm actually pretty docile," she said calmly.

"Everyone," Tatsumi said getting the others attention, "This is Larka. The tailed beast sealed inside of me. My guardian angel," he smiled at Karin. "She's been sealed inside of me since I was a baby. And we've become great friends in that time." He walked over to her and leaned against her paw.

"So is that why Seraphim manifests as a wolf?" Hinata asked.

"Actually no. it just happened to be a lucky coincidence. It's also a lucky coincidence that me and Naruto have tailed beasts sealed inside of us that have exactly the same number of tails," Tatsumi replied.

"Wait a second here," everyone turned to Naruto. "You're saying that I have something like this sealing inside of me as well?"

"Kurama, my twin brother is nothing like me anymore. He used to be very caring and kind to everyone until our father, the Sage of the Sixth paths, was killed. But that's a story for another time," Larka told them.

"Who's Kurama?" Naruto asked.

"The Kyuubi," Larka replied.

"Oh. I never expected him to have a name."

"We all have names. All ten of us," Larka looked to Tatsumi. "Anything else you needed, my dear?"

"Nope. Just thought I'd drop by and show you off," Tatsumi grinned.

Larka nodded, "Very well then."

Everyone opened their eyes back in Naruto's apartment. "Well, that was eye opening," Karin said.

"Sorry if she scared anyone," Tatsumi chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

"It's fine," Hinata said kindly to him.

"Yeah. Larka seemed to be really nice for being a tailed beast," Karin smiled at him.

Tatsumi chuckled, "Yeah she is pretty nice."

"I have the Kyuubi sealed away inside of me," Naruto mumbled. Everyone turned to him.

"Naruto. This isn't gonna be easy to deal with. It took me some time before I accepted, but I'm sure if you tried to get to know Kurama it'd be fine. Here, let's go meet him," Tatsumi put his fist up to Naruto, "It'll probably be better if just me and Naruto go. That way Kurama isn't overwhelmed." The others nodded as Naruto bumped fists with Tatsumi.

Naruto and Tatsumi blinked into a dark room. There were a few torches on the walls and a giant golden cage in front of the two of them. On the cage there was a huge sealing tag with the kanji for seal written on it. A deep growling was heard instantly. "Who's there?" a deep growling voice said angrily.

At that moment Larka appeared beside Tatsumi in a one tailed form. "Kurama, what happened to you?" she asked him with sadness in her voice.

"Who are you, she-wolf?" the Kyuubi snarled revealing itself behind the cage. The orange fox stood about fifteen stories high, each of its nine tails swished lazily back and forth as it glared at the trio.

"Your twin sister, Kurama."

"There was no wolf amongst the nine of us when we were born," the fox snarled.

"Foolish little brother," she said, "You don't remember me because I chose not to be seen. Our father agreed and helped hide me from you all. I wanted to be the guardian angel over all of you. And I always was."

"Kurama!" Tatsumi yelled making the fox turn his gaze to him. "This is Naruto, your Jinchuriki." He motioned towards Naruto who in turn waved slightly up at the fox.

The fox only growled at Naruto. "I hope one day we can work together Kurama," Naruto told the fox.

"That will take quite a long time before I ever trust a human ever again," Kurama growled.

Naruto nodded, "I'll find a way to make you trust me, believe it." Then the two boys and wolf disappeared.

"Naruto hmm? Maybe he could bring us all together again…" Kurama pondered to himself before lying back down in his cage and dozing back off.

Naruto and Tatsumi opened their eyes to see the girls sitting on Naruto's couch chatting. "So it's Tatsumi that you like?" Hinata asked.

Karin nodded, "Ever since he came to the Leaf, I've always thought he was a wonderful person."

Tatsumi cleared his throat as he watched the two girls. Karin instantly blushed the same bright red Hinata blushed after she had kissed Naruto just hours before.

"How much of that did you two hear?" Karin quickly asked, shocked that they had come back so quickly.

"All I heard was that you thought somebody was a wonderful person," Tatsumi lied not wanting to put Karin in a bigger spotlight than what she already felt she was in.

Karin sighed slightly, "Ok, good."

"So who is it?" he asked her smiling.

"Like I told you earlier, it's for me to know and you to find out," she smirked.

They all laughed. "Well we had better get some sleep for tomorrow morning. It's gonna be a brutal exercise," Tatsumi yawned. The others nodded in agreement.

Naruto stood up, "Do you guys need any blankets or pillows?" They all nodded when he asked. Naruto then went over to his closet and opened it up forgetting about the few bags of trash he had stuffed in there earlier. As he opened the door they all fell out and on top of him. The other three genins laughed as Naruto fell back. 'Oh crap!' thought Naruto to himself, 'I had completely forgotten about these being in here.' He stood up ashamed "Sorry I was in a rush earlier and didn't have time to go take these to the dumpster before you guys showed up," he said looking down.

Hinata stood up off the couch and walked over to him. "It's ok, Naru-kun. I'll help you take it out there." She smiled at him and grabbed one of the bags and walked to the door with him in tow carrying the other two bags.

Naruto looked at Karin and Tatsumi, "Well the blankets and extra pillows are in there. Help yourselves." Naruto shut the door behind him and Hinata as Tatsumi stood up and grabbed a few blankets for them all to use. He handed them to Karin, brushing her hand with his in the process.

She blushed at his touch and jerked away slightly. "Oh sorry," Tatsumi said, locking eyes with her. His heartbeat caught in his throat as she looked at him with her light pink eyes. He had slowly been falling in love with them over the years. He had noticed her the very same day that he first went to the academy, he just never said anything.

They watched each other for a few more seconds before Karin blushed and turned away setting the blankets on the couch. Tatsumi watched her for a couple more seconds before turning to get some pillows out of the closet. Karin spread a couple of blankets out on the floor to lay on as Tatsumi set the pillows down. He tossed on and accidentally hit Karin with it. "Hey watch it, you," she said smiling his way and throwing it back at him hitting him in the face with the pillow.

Tatsumi laughed and grabbed the pillow and blocked a strike from Karin who grabbed her own pillow to use. She laughed as Tatsumi hit her with his pillow. She blocked a few more hits before hitting Tatsumi back. Tatsumi ducked and blindly hit her in the face with his pillow knocking her and her glasses on the couch. "Oh crap! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to knock your glasses off," he said dropping the pillow and sitting beside her. Tatsumi picked up her glasses and turned to face her. Their eyes locked again, causing each one of them to blush.

"Tatsumi… Do you really want to know who it is that I like?" Karin asked him.

"I have a guess," Tatsumi replied not taking his eyes off Karin's. She swallowed as he leaned towards her, brushing her lips slightly. "Ah, here goes nothing," Tatsumi said as he closed the gap between them and kissed her deeply. She gasped slightly before returning the kiss to him. As he broke the kiss they both sighed, felling accomplished at taking such a big step.

"W-We should get some sleep," Karin said taking her glasses from Tatsumi and setting them on the coffee table.

"Yeah. I guess so," he stood up and walked over to the place he was going to sleep for the night. Karin stood up and went to the bathroom to change. She came back out a few minutes later wearing a pair of shorts and a tank top. Tatsumi went in after and changed into a pair of shorts. He walked out and Karin had already laid down, she looked up at him. Her eyes instantly widened.

'Wow. He looks good without a shirt on,' she thought to herself. He smiled at her and laid down in his spot. "Good night, Tatsumi," Karin said to him smiling.

"Night, Karin," he told her, returning the smile. They both soon fell asleep.

As Naruto and Hinata walked back to Naruto's apartment, he stopped and pulled her close to him. She was shocked at the sudden action but then smiled as she realized he was kissing her. "I think I'm in love with you, Hina-chan," Naruto said quietly to her after breaking the kiss.

"I love you too, Naru-kun. But, unfortunately, we should get back before those two get worried or worse," she said smiling. Naruto couldn't help but smile back at her. They soon made their way back to Naruto's apartment. They walked in to find Karin and Tatsumi already asleep. However, they didn't expect to see them asleep with Karin nuzzling into Tatsumi's chest and Tatsumi's arms around her. Hinata suppressed a giggle as she noticed the two of them. Naruto just smiled at his friends.

"I'm gonna go change into something to sleep in," Naruto said as he walked into his bathroom. He came back moments later wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Hinata quickly went in after and changed as well, coming back into the main room wearing a long t-shirt that covered her shorts she was wearing. Naruto laid down in another area of the room since the middle was occupied by Tatsumi and Karin.

"Umm, Naru-kun… would… would you care if I slept next to you tonight?" Hinata asked shyly and blushing deep red. She was glad it was dark so Naruto couldn't see her blushing.

Naruto blushed slightly, "S-Sure."

She nodded and grabbed a pillow and laid down next to him. She nuzzled herself into his chest wanting to feel his warmth. Soon the both of them were asleep.

The next morning after Squad Seven got up and got ready and after a quick breakfast they all went to the memorial stone training ground. They arrived ten minutes before 7am. As they waited Tatsumi went over the strategy he had come up with last night so it could be fresh in everyone's mind. "Naruto and I will use our ranged ninjutsu to hold Rin-onesan at bay while Hinata engages her in close combat. Karin will use her support ninjutsu to provide cover for me and Naruto while strengthening Hinata's attacks. I'll also be covering Karin myself incase Onesan decides to attack Karin directly. If Hinata can attack quickly enough to close off her chakra points we can end this match with ease. If not it's gonna be hard getting those bells off sis. Not saying Hinata won't be strong enough, I'm saying Rin-onesan is super-fast."

"Before we actually engage in fighting though, me and Hina-chan have a cool new jutsu we want to use against her," Naruto said.

Tatsumi and Karin turned to the two of them, "What kind of jutsu is it?" Karin asked him.

"It's a surprise," Hinata told her.

The other two shrugged, "Alright then. Let's win this so we can become genins!" Tatsumi said encouragingly. They all bumped fists and began waiting.

Three and a half hours later Rin walked onto the training ground, "Yo!" she called to them.

Naruto and Karin instantly stood up from where they were sitting at the same time. "Hey! You're late!" they said in unison.

"Well, I accidentally dropped a mirror earlier so I took extra care to get here," she said smiling.

'Yeah. I'm sure that's what it was,' Naruto and Karin thought in unison.

Rin cleared her throat, "Well then. Let's get this started." She set an alarm clock on a stump. "It's set for noon. You have until then to take the two bells attached to my waist; if you can't then you'll go without lunch. You'll be tied to one of the posts here on the training grounds and you will watch while I eat my lunch in front of you. You may also use any means necessary to get them from me, including shurkien." The four nodded and stood in an attacking stance. "Ready, start!" Rin yelled.

Instantly Tatsumi charged Rin, unsheathing his sword. Meanwhile, Naruto and Hinata had clapped their left and right hands respectively together and began forming hand seals with the other two. They each finished forming seals and placed their other hand together. Naruto finished with a half boar hand seal and Hinata with a half ram seal.

"Gale Style: Blizzard Storm Jutsu!" They call in unison. The sky darkened as a storm approached, instantly blowing icy winds around the training ground.

Karin made a few set of hand seals and focused her jutsu on Naruto and Hinata. "Heat wave support field!" she called. Naruto and Hinata instantly warmed up. Once the storm had finished approaching, Tatsumi jumped back to where Naruto was standing. As soon as he landed, Hinata rushed Rin with her chakra covered hands. Hinata began attacking Rin's chakra points as Rin drew her sword to block with the flat of it.

"Wind Style: Severing Wind!" Naruto yelled and sent a blade of wind produced from his arm at Rin. She easily ducked out of the way only to have Hinata send a kick towards her head. Rin jumped back and sent a bolt of lightning at Naruto from her sword.

'Wow! These guys already have great teamwork. Tatsumi must've told them how I fight. But that was when we first came to the Hidden Leaf. I've learned some new tricks since then,' Rin smirked then formed a quick set of hand seals. "Earth Style: Ruptured Earth!" she slammed her hands down on the ground and split the entire battlefield, knocking everyone from their positions. At that moment she jumped to Tatsumi and locked eyes with him, "Genjutsu: Paralysis!"

Tatsumi instantly froze, "Damnit!" He tried to struggle against the Genjutsu but to no avail.

Karin moved from her hidden position and straight to Tatsumi's side, "Release!" Tatsumi instantly fell to his knees.

"Thanks for that," he said to her. She nodded and Tatsumi drew his sword. "Time to get serious. Charge, Seraphim!" Seraphim, lit up with lightning, "Let's go, Karin," he lept towards his sister before waiting for an answer.

She lept after him making a few hand seals, "Heat wave support field!" Tatsumi instantly warmed up. He hadn't even realized that he was cold until the warmth from Karin's jutsu heated him up. "Support jutsu: Strengthen!" she called directing her jutsu to her teammates. Each one of them instantly had an increase in strength.

Hinata blocked an attack directed at Naruto with a Gentle Fist strike as Naruto charged up another Severing Wind and sent it towards Rin. She dodged it easily and kicked it towards her little brother.

Karin saw the incoming wind attack and jumped in front of Tatsumi, making a few hand seals. "Protective Barrier jutsu!" she called. Naruto's wind attack skidded off and flew up harmlessly into the air as Tatsumi jumped over Karin.

"Chidori Spear!" he yelled and pushed his blade at Rin. The lightning that was surrounding Seraphim shot towards Rin at deadly speed, who barely had enough time to dodge the attack. It lightly grazed her shoulder.

She growled in frustration, 'I really hadn't expected these four to push me this far. But for being on a team for such a short amount of time, they have excellent teamwork. Well either way…' she jumped up into the air. "Charge, Cherubim," she said calmly. As she reached the peak of her jump before stalling in the air a moment, she quickly flipped over and flew straight downward with a blade covered in pure white lightning. Gravity gave her the momentum she needed to strike the blade all the way to the hilt into the ground. She held her body straight up as wires shot out of her boots. She instantly electrified them. "Lightning Barrage!" she yelled as she spun herself and the wires around. The wires all struck the four teammates, zapping them all with high powered electricity.

Once her attack was done she quickly lept up into the air, bringing Cherubim with her as she did. She withdrew the wires in her boots and landed on her feet as swiftly as a cat. Tatsumi began to chuckle causing Rin to turn around to him. "What's so funny little brother?" she asked irritated.

"You fell for everything. You were only fighting me the entire time you know?" he said as the others dispelled in a cloud of smoke. (And you thought they had been defeated.)

'Shadow Clones?' Rin thought to herself stunned, "But how?" Rin thought and said the last part.

"During that last attack, right before you flipped in the air. They all switched with my clones," Tatsumi smirked standing up. He locked eyes with his sisters. "Genjutsu: Paralysis!" he called as his sister tried to attack him with Cherubim. She stopped immediately before her blade hit his open arm.

"Damnit!" she cursed as she tried to move.

"Game over, Onesan," Tatsumi said confidently.

Rin only smirked, "You know you're not the only one…"

"…who knows how to use shadow clones!" the real Rin finished the clones statement as it dispersed. Tatsumi turned to block a sword strike from his sister, but then vanished in a cloud of smoke as her blade went right through him. 'Another Shadow Clone?!' Rin cursed angrily to herself. (Don't you just love shadow clones?)

"Eight Trigrams! 2 palms!" Rin felt two of her chakra points closed off. "4 palms! 8 palms! 16 palms!" Hinata yelled as she emerged from the smoke that the clone had created, aiming the last palm strike at Rin's chest. Rin quickly lept away from the last palm strike, already feeling the effects from all the other strikes. Hinata's last attack simply hit the ground. Rin went to attack Hinata but felt a blade up against her throat and two more at vital points on her body. She looked around to see Tatsumi behind her holding Seraphim to her neck and Naruto and Karin to her sides wielding kunai.

"Your teamwork is incredible." She commented, smirking, "But a ninja must always see through deception." Rin then exploded into arcs of electricity zapping her nearby opponents. "Now face the wrath of the Sky! Kirin!" A dragon of pure white lightning appeared out of the clouds and charged towards the four stunned genins. The dragon hit the ground as a gigantic bolt of lightning sending all four of them flying through the air. As each one collided with an object, however, they blew away in a puff of smoke, with the exception of Hinata who substituted with a log before the attack struck the ground.

"My turn. Face the wrath of the Sky! Kirin!" Tatsumi yelled from the tree line as his own dragon of completely black lightning raced towards Rin. It struck in the same fashion as Rin's did just a few moments ago, sending her flying into a tree. As she collided, she coughed up blood from the impact. Tatsumi rushed over to her. "Onesan!" he screamed fearing the worst. As he reached her she blew away in another cloud of smoke. (Ok, maybe there a few too many shadow clones. But we all Naruto uses them in the hundreds all the time, so I don't think I'm hurting anything here.)

From behind Tatsumi, Rin held Cherubim at his throat, "Like I said earlier. I ninja must always see through deception. I figured Kakashi-sensei would've drilled that into your thick skull." Her tone was very threatening.

Tatsumi smiled to himself, "I thought he taught the same thing to you too, Onesan. I have been the decoy all this time." The other three jumped behind her holding kunai to three vital points on her body. "And I know this one isn't a shadow clone," Tatsumi said triumphantly. (HAH! Tricked you! You thought it was gonna be another shadow clone I bet! *insert Might Guy's "Nice Guy" pose, complete with shiny teeth and all*)

Rin smiled down at her little brother and lowered her sword from his neck. He stood up and turned to her smiling like an idiot.

"Baka," she said to him, ruffling his hair. "Your teamwork was incredible you four."

"Well me, Hina-chan, and Tatsumi have been training together since you guys came here to the Leaf. And we just found a way to incorporate Karin's support ninjutsu into that," Naruto said proudly.

"Yeah, it was really easy once we all got to know Karin better," Hinata said encouragingly.

Karin smiled at her new teammate, especially Tatsumi. Rin nodded proudly. "Now would you guys kindly remove these kunai away from me?" she asked, almost nervously.

"Why would we do that, Onesan? A ninja must always see through deception and we're not about to take these kunai from you until we have the bells," Tatsumi smirked as he grabbed the bells from his sisters waist.

She shot a glare at him as the other three took their kunai away from Rin.

She sighed, "I guess Kakashi-sensei drilled that into your head better than I thought he did." They all laughed. "Alright then! Let's go have some lunch! Where shall we go, my treat since you all passed."

The four genin all glanced at each other then said in unison, "Ichiraku Ramen!"

Rin just laughed at the four of them, "Alright, Squad Seven. Mission complete! Let's go get lunch!"

As the five of them walked off of the training field, an unknown figure watched them from a tree limb, "You've become fine ninja, Rin, Tatsumi. I hope one day I can return to you…" the figure then disappeared.

Tatsumi stopped and turned to look at the branch the figure was perched on only to find it empty. Karin grabbed his hand to bring him out of his daze. "Hey silly, what are you looking at?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh it was nothing, just thought somebody was there," he replied.

Rin looked at him then to the branch and shrugged, "Probably got the feeling from the adrenaline still working through your body from the match."

"Maybe so…" Tatsumi trailed off as he resumed walking to Ichiraku.

The five of them chatted to one another as they walked. "Hey did you guys eat breakfast this morning even though I said not to?" Rin asked all of a sudden. Then the entire group laughed as they went back into town to eat. Tomorrow they would begin life as ninja in the real world.

**I tried to not overpower them and I apologize if it seems like they are. Tatsumi in this has no connection to the Tatsumi in Akame ga Kill, if any of you guys watch and/or read it. The Rin in this also has no connection to the Rin that Kakashi grew up with, I just liked the name. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Leave questions and I will try to answer them all in the next chapter. Until next time, this is ForsakenAng3l signing off.**


	2. The Land of Waves

**A New Beginning**

**Chapter 2: The Land of Waves**

**LEGEND: "…" speech**

'…' **thinking**

**(…) probably authors notes**

_**Italics will purely be flashbacks**_

**- Scene change**

"Naruto here. I'm at point A, believe it," Naruto called said over a headset.

"Tatsumi, I'm at point B," Tatsumi said shortly after.

"This is Hinata. I'm at point C and waiting orders," Hinata said quietly.

A couple seconds later Karin chimed in, "I'm at Point D, believe it."

The four of them all sat in the trees watching a small animal from each of the four points. It quickly moved into the brush and ran towards the middle of town.

"He's on the move!" Tatsumi yelled. The four genins all raced after it. They watched it run past a few people before disappearing.

"DAMN CAT!" the Uzumaki cousins yelled, neither one could stand cats; and this cat was no exception.

Tatsumi and Karin took to the roof on either side of the street while Naruto and Hinata circled around the buildings to cut it off. When it saw Naruto and Hinata on the ground it quickly turned down an alley. The four genins raced after it as it ran down the alley straight up to a fence.

"Stupid cat!" Naruto yelled at it as the four closed in on it. It only hissed in reply, raising the hair on the back of its neck.

"Steady Naruto," Tatsumi warned, "We don't want to scare him off."

The cat growled at Tatsumi as he stepped forward. The team was only about two feet away from it now.

"Hang on a second," Hinata said quietly to the others. She squatted down in front of the cat and put her hand out for it to sniff. "Can the three of you back up?" she asked quietly. They nodded and did as they were asked.

"Don't let him get passed you, Hina-chan," Naruto told her.

Hinata simply nodded, keeping her eyes on the cat. "Come here. I'm not gonna hurt you," Hinata said quietly to the cat. The hair on its back smoothed out, but it didn't quit growling completely. "It's ok. They aren't gonna hurt you either." The cat quit growling finally and sat on its back legs, tail swishing back and forth quietly. Hinata stilled held her hand out to it as it took a step towards her nervously. The cat got closer to Hinata and began sniffing her hand. Hinata smiled as the cat finished walking up to her and started to purr as it rubbed its back on her legs. She picked it up, gently stroking it fur.

"Looks like we got him," Rin said from out of nowhere. "Missing cat Tora found. Mission accomplished. Let's get back to the Hokage's office and finish this mission officially; and get our next mission." The four nodded and lept off towards the Hokage's office.

"AWW! My little Tora is back!" a rather large woman said loudly as she took the cat from Hinata. The woman proceeded to squeeze the cat close to her chest. It almost looked as if it was struggling for air. Seeing this earned suppressed snorts from Naruto and Karin. Rin smacked them both in the back of the head with her hands not moving from where she was standing and not taking her eyes off of the Hokage. Even though she thought it was a hilarious display, she still kept her composure in front of the Hokage.

The woman paid the Hokage for the success of the completed mission and left with her cat, still squeezing the life out of it. As soon as the woman left the room Naruto lost his composure and began laughing hysterically, thus earning another smack to the back of the head.

"That was well done you four. This is the seventh time this week he has run off," the Hokage said. "And now we have some more missions for you guys to partake in. Some of these include gardening, walking the mayor's dogs, babysitting his kids, also picking up the groceries for his wife, and-"

"No way! All we've been doing since we became genins two weeks ago are these stupid missions! An academy student could do these!" Naruto yelled, cutting the Hokage off. "We need an actual mission!"

"Do you ever shut it?" Rin asked to him, smacking him in the back of the head harder than the other two times.

"OWW!" Naruto complained. "What the hell was that for?"

"Because you're complaining too much," Rin said flashing him a glare that almost always silenced him. She had developed this trait a few days after passing these four; the back of the head smacking as well.

"Well I wouldn't complain if we got an actual mission and not babysitting!" Naruto shot his own glare back at Rin, which was never a good idea, but in this case Rin would hold her composure.

"Silence!" the Hokage yelled at them before Naruto could say anything else. Naruto fell silent before mumbling something under his breath that was ignored by all in the room. "The reason you're getting these types of missions is because you are merely genins. And you will receive D-rank missions unless I say so."

At this point Iruka chimed in, "Hokage-sama, these four have shown exceptional skills in taking on missions using their teamwork. And from what Rin told us in her report they have some of the best teamwork she's ever seen; even after adding a fourth member that they didn't really know entirely from the academy."

The Hokage took Iruka's words into consideration before sighing, blowing smoke from his ever present pipe out of his mouth. "Very well. I'm going to give this squad a C-rank mission. The five of you are going to be escorting a man back to his home and protecting him while he finishes a bridge connecting his land to an adjoining one. It's only C-rank because you will not be facing any enemy ninja's but merely a small gang of inexperienced thugs." The Hokage turned to the man standing by the door, "Send him in."

The man nodded and opened the door and walked out for a few moments before returning with a man wearing very basic travel clothes and a tattered pack. He had a bottle of some unknown substance in his hand, probably sake.

"What's this? Four puny brats and one ninja? I thought I would be getting a whole team of ninjas," he said insulting the genins. Thus earning him glares from all four.

Rin stepped up to him, "I can assure you, these four are very well trained. You will be under their care for the length of this mission." Her eyes showed that the statement meant that his life practically depended on the four genins behind her with her actually saying so. The man gulped slightly, which didn't go unnoticed by Rin. She smiled almost viciously at her victory setting the man in his place for insulting her team of genins. Even if they were idiots sometimes, she wouldn't dare let anyone who didn't know them insult them.

"Very well then," he said taking a couple steps back. "My name is Tazuna, and I need you to escort me back to my land and protect me while I finish the bridge I am building."

Squad Seven nodded in unison. After they received their payment for completing the last mission, they followed Tazuna out of the room and out to the Hidden Leaf gates.

"Where do you live Tazuna-san?" Hinata asked as soon as they exited the village.

"I live in the Land of Waves. It's a small country with no ninja to protect it, but it can be prosperous at times. Although as of late things have gone downhill. That's why I'm building a bridge to connect our land with the main land," Tazuna explained to them.

The ninjas all listened to him as he spoke, well, all but Naruto that is. He walked ahead of the group as they walked down the road. As they came around a corner, he stepped in a rather deep puddle. "Aww man!" Naruto complained as he pulled his foot out of the water. However, not only his foot came from the puddle, but a hand wrapped around his ankle came with it. The arm that shortly followed flung Naruto into a tree nearby as two Ninja jumped out of the puddle.

"Little brat! That hurt!" the man yelled as him and another guy jumped out of the puddle. They were both dressed in a black cloak that covered their thick camo clothing. Each one wore a breathing apparatus over their mouths and nose. Over one of each of their arms was a thick gauntlet that looked as though it shot projectiles from it. Covering their hands was inch thick or longer claws.

"Everyone, defensive formations!" Rin yelled as she drew Cherubim from its sheath. Tatsumi followed suit as he drew Seraphim as Karin and Hinata stayed close to Tazuna, holding kunai in each of their hands.

"I've got the brat in orange," the first guy said to the other.

"Fine. Just don't take too long, there are others here to take care of," the second growled.

The first one just grunted and went for Naruto as the second ran towards Tazuna. Tatsumi jumped in front of the first as Naruto climbed from the tree he was in. Naruto growled as he jumped up beside Tatsumi, with a Kunai in hand. That was when Rin noticed the headbands on the two dark ninja. They were wearing headbands with squiggly lines in a group of four. Two on top and two on bottom, with the bottom ones directly under the top ones.

'Mist ninja? What are they doing here?' Rin thought to herself. She watched the Mist ninja run towards Hinata and Karin's position. Karin threw her kunai at the ninja who dodged easily. The Mist ninja then fired his own kunai from the gauntlet. As the kunai flew towards them, Hinata jumped in front of them and blocked them with her own kunai. She then threw her two passed the Mist ninja in front of her, aiming for the one attacking Naruto and Tatsumi. She then took a gentle fist stance and activated her Byakugan as the ninja drew near.

Karin made a few hand signs and placed her palms on Hinata's back. "Support jutsu: Strengthening!" she called, making Hinata's attack power rise significantly.

"Eight Trigrams: 2 Palms!" Hinata yelled, slamming two of her palms into the Mist ninjas arm. "4 Palms! 8 Palms! 16 Palms!" Hinata's last palm struck him directly in his heart, stopping it in an instant. However adrenaline was still moving through his body as he swung his clawed hand at Hinata's throat. Right before the attack hit, Karin knocked her out of the way and took the claws to her upper arm, making her scream loudly in pain. Both Karin and the Mist ninja fell to the ground in a heap.

Meanwhile, the first Mist ninja ducked as two kunai flew straight at his head and fired his own kunai at Tatsumi and Naruto from his gauntlet. Tatsumi blocked them with Seraphim while Naruto simply dodged them.

"Wind style: Severing Wind!" Naruto called and flung the blade of wind at the Mist ninja. The ninja jumped to the side to avoid the attack then fired more kunai from his gauntlet.

"Charge, Seraphim!" Tatsumi yelled, as Naruto jumped in front of the kunai to cover Tatsumi as he charged up an attack.

"Wind style: Wind Wall!" Naruto yelled as he blew a wall of wind at the kunai, knocking them all away.

"Chidori Light Blade!" Tatsumi called the name of his jutsu, leaping over Naruto and sending lightning from his sword at the Mist ninja. The attack struck the Mist guy back into a tree, knocking him out cold. Tatsumi landed just as soon as he heard Karin scream in agony. "KARIN!" he yelled as he turned and saw her fall along with the other Mist ninja. He turned towards the Mist ninja knocked out against the three and charged him with his sword aimed to kill. He let out a vicious battle cry as he reached the Mist ninja. However, from out of nowhere, Rin grabbed her little brother by the collar of his clothes and threw him on his back.

"Nechan! What the hell are you doing?" Tatsumi asked angrily.

"We need information from this guy and keeping you from killing him just out of pure revenge. Besides Karin is ok. See?" Rin turned to her other two subordinates. Tatsumi did the same and saw Hinata helping Karin get up from under the second Mist ninja. She looked ok with the exception of the deep claw made wounds on her shoulder.

Tatsumi sighed and sheathed Seraphim as he walked over to her. Right before he reached a look of pure agony came over her face. She reached up and grabbed her arm, falling to the side screaming in pain.

"KARIN!" Tatsumi yelled and rushed to her side. He pulled her up into his lap, taking care not to hit her shoulder. Rin grabbed the dead Mist ninja's claws and sniffed them.

"Poisoned. And none of us know hardly any medical jutsu. But I can slow the poison down," Rin said as she made a quick set of hand seals. Her hands began to glow a bright green color as she moved them over Karin's wound then the rest of her body. "That'll hold it off for a few days. Until then we need to get to the Land of Waves quickly." She stood up and turned to Tazuna. Rin's eyes flashed dangerously, "You and I need to have a serious talk. Why didn't you say that there were enemy ninja after you? This mission deserves to have an A or B ranking, not C ranking. You deliberately hid the fact that there were enemy ninja after you."

"The Land of Waves is a small, poor country," Tazuna began. "We have no ninja to protect us. So when I began building the bridge to connect us to the main land, the man who had taken control over us decided to do something about it. His name is Gato. He's a very powerful business man on the surface. But underneath all that he sells drugs and other sorts of illegal items. And when he figured out that the bridge that's being built would break his control over the Land of Waves, he hired ninja to kill us all. Like i said before, the Land of Waves is a poor country. That's why i hid the fact of enemy ninja."

At that moment the knocked out Mist ninja jumped up and dashed away, shooting kunai at Tazuna. Said kunai then hit an invisible force field and flew into nearby trees. Everyone who was there flinched back when the kunai struck, all but one. Karin was holding her hands in the final hand seal for a protective barrier jutsu. Everyone there said a silent prayer to Kami when they saw Karin's hands. She opened her eyes and looked at Tatsumi.

"Hey, silly," she said quietly.

"Hey you," Tatsumi smiled down at her.

"We need to get going," Rin reminded the couple. "That guy will most likely report to his superiors about us. And then that means reinforcements. Plus we need to get Karin to the Land of Waves so I can analyze the poison better. I could here, but we could use better cover."

The genins nodded and stood, Tatsumi picking up Karin bridal style, thus causing a blush to come over Karin's face. They group resumed walking to their destination as the Mist ninja hid in the trees watching them. 'That girl is gonna die in a few days unless you get the antidote,' he smirked to himself before leaping off in the direction of his headquarters. He had to report to his leader; even though he knew she would be pissed for failing the mission, he still needed to make the report.

"You failed?!" a female voice asked angrily at the Mist ninja. He was silent, with his head bowed. "And you were defeated by genins no less. You insolent fool!" she yelled as she quickly sliced his throat with a kunai. He didn't make a sound as he fell lifeless to the floor. "If you want something done right, I guess you've gotta do it yourself." She sliced her hand with the kunai and stabbed the blade into the corpse's back. "Blood Pact Jutsu: Dead Rise!" she called after making a complex set of hand seals. The dead Mist ninja slowly stood up and looked to the woman.

"What is your bidding, Neko-sama?" he said flatly.

She grinned to herself, "We are going to kill those ninjas and the damned bridge builder."

A fever had broken out over Karin's face the next day and by the time they got to the Land of Waves, it had worsened significantly. Rin reapplied the poison slowing medical ninjutsu again, but it hardly helped. Tatsumi worried frantically about it, but Rin was able to calm him down every time he began to get over worried. She looked at her little brother with large amounts of concern in her eyes; she had never seen Tatsumi get this way about anyone or anything. Karin must've been very special to him, especially considering that he had been in love with her since the first day he was in the academy. He was just really shy about it, which was strange considering his personality was very outgoing. He was always able to talk to the other girls in his class, but when it came to Karin, he just kinda froze up. The same way Hinata used to do when talking to Naruto. Rin thought it was adorable, to be honest. However, in this situation, there was no time to think of anything as adorable. They needed to get the Tazuna's house so his daughter could cure the poison. She was very good at those types of things since her late husband almost always got poisoned by some sort of fish when he was fishing.

"We've arrived," the man steering the boat said quietly as he rowed through the dense fog. They didn't want anybody to know that the master bridge builder had returned with ninja from the Land of Fire's Hidden Leaf village. He rowed under a bridge that connected to the much larger bridge nearby and emerged beside a dock.

"This is where I leave you guys," he said quietly. Tazuna stood and exited the boat.

"Thank you, Suski. You won't have to smuggle any in or out here in a little while," Tazuna said looking towards the bridge.

The ninjas all exited one after the other, Tatsumi getting off last so he could hand Karin to the others. Once he stepped onto the dock he took Karin back into his arms.

"Maybe you should let one of the others carry her, little brother," Rin said to him as they walked out of the docks and into a more wooded area.

"Yeah. I can carry her so you won't be too worn out," Naruto said to him.

Tatsumi merely shook his head, not saying a word. Rin sighed to herself. She knew how stubborn her brother could be when he set his mind to something. Hinata placed her hand on his shoulder as she walked beside him. "It's going to be ok, Tatsumi-kun. I'm sure Tsunami will know what to do," Hinata said referring to Tazuna's daughter.

Tatsumi smiled at her weakly, nodding only slightly. She returned his smile with a caring and concerned one. Hinata then walked back to her spot beside Naruto and out of Tatsumi's vision. She grabbed Naruto's hand squeezed it tightly, making sure nothing could happen to him. Tazuna watched the four kids with interest. He had never seen kids this young show this much care to each other before. He liked what he saw, despite the fact that Karin had an extremely high fever.

"Well isn't this just cute," a female's voice said from the trees. "It's so cute that it's disgusting." She jumped in front of the group from the trees, blocking the path. She wore a Mist headband around her waist. Her clothing was simple ninja gear, except way more revealing. Only her breasts were covered by the almost half flak jacket. Her shorts only went down to mid-thigh. She had her hair tied back into a sort of fan formation that was held together with senbon needles. Everything about her was green, well except for her skin. Her hair and eyes were the same shade of emerald green.

The ninjas all took up defensive positions. Hinata stood in front of Tazuna in her Gentle Fist stance. Rin drew Cherubim and stood in front of everybody. Naruto had two kunai drawn in each hand, ready to throw. Tatsumi made a shadow clone to hold onto Karin while he drew Seraphim.

The Mist female laughed at this, "I can't believe that you actually think you can take me on. I am Neko of the Blood Mist Clan; you puny insects have no chance against me." An evil grin spread across her face as she spoke.

"Everybody stay back. Even as a team, you won't be able to take her on," Rin said to her subordinates. 'I, myself probably won't be able to take her on...' she thought grimly to herself.

At that moment Neko charged towards Rin with a kunai in hand. Rin blocked with Cherubim, tossing a kunai behind her back at Neko's head. The Mist ninja blurred away, appearing between Hinata and Tazuna with a kunai in each hand aimed at Tazuna's and Hinata's throats. Rin gasped when she saw her attacking them both; but before she could move an orange blur swept passed her vision. Said orange blur got behind Neko and kicked her in the back, sending her flying away from Tazuna and Hinata. The two of them had no clue what just happened for Neko's movements were faster than their eyes and minds could follow. Anger was plastered over Naruto's face when Hinata turned to him.

"Don't you dare touch them!" Naruto yelled at Neko, who standing again.

"That was impressive, kid. I never expected you to move that quickly," Neko smirked at him then made a complex set of hand seals, unknown to everybody there. "Blood Pact Rise," she said evilly. After she said that the Mist ninja they had fought before rose from the ground. His white lifeless eyes stared at Naruto who flinched in return.

"Is this the one, master?" he asked in a dead tone.

"Yes. Yes it is," she smirked and made one more strange hand seal. "Kill him. And while you're at it, show absolutely no mercy," she almost laughed.

The undead Mist ninja's eyes changed to completely red and charged towards Naruto. He raised his gauntleted arm and fired kunai at Naruto, who either dodged or blocked them with his own kunai. Meanwhile Neko blurred out of existence and appeared in front of Rin with a kunai. She sliced Rin's cheek with the kunai then disappeared again, only this time appearing in front of Tatsumi. She did the same thing to him and blurred away to stand beside a rather large tree. Both Rin and Tatsumi jumped back from the quickness of her attacks, knowing full well that their lives could've been ended in that moment. This woman was very powerful to be able to do that without either of them realizing until after it had already happened.

"Now try this attack on for size," she grinned evilly as she stabbed the kunai that had cut the siblings into the tree handle deep. She made another set of strange hand seals, "Blood Pact Jutsu!" she called. Instantly the tree seemed to come to life as it fused with the trees around it and stood. Neko stood on its shoulder and laughed down at them. The giant tree monster stood at least twenty feet tall and each of its arms were formed into bludgeoning weapons.

"Damn..." Rin cursed quietly.

Meanwhile on the other side of the forest two figures stood at the tree line. One was significantly taller than the other and wore only a pair of gray striped pants and sandals. Over his arms up to his biceps were brown camo arm warmers. He wore a sort of harness across his back and chest to hold the giant sword on his back. Over his face were bandages that covered his face from his neck up to his nose. He also hand a Mist headband tied to the side of his head instead of having it on his forehead. He kept his dark hair short and spiked.

His companion, however, wore more clothing. She wore brown striped clothing under a robe of teal with white outlines on the edges. Around her waist was a sash that doubled as a belt. She wore sandals similar to the first guy. She wore a Tracker ninja mask over her face with the same Mist emblem on the direct center of the top. Her hair was extremely long. The majority of it was tied back in a classic samurai bun towards the top of her head and the front hung down on the sides of her face that was tied at the ends.

The two of them started to walk into the forest when they heard the sound of thunder and then the forest being ripped apart. On high alert, the two of them jumped up to the treetops to see what was going on. What they saw was a tree giant and two people with swords of lightning fighting. They watched as one of the figures sent lightning from their blade into the center of the tree while the other attacked at the shoulders.

"Haku, let's go," the taller one said in a deep voice and lept towards the fighting.

"Yes," the other one said in a low voice. She couldn't have been any older than the four Leaf genins.

Back with Squad Seven, Rin and Tatsumi were engaged in combat against the tree giant. "Chidori Light Blade!" Tatsumi yelled sending a stream of black lightning at the tree. It struck the stomach area, knocking the tree back a few steps before swinging it's arm at Tatsumi. Rin, however, was more focused on Neko, who was standing on the giants shoulder.

"Lightning Barrage!" RIn yelled as she whipped the wires in her boots at Neko who used the tree to block the wires. The wires simply hit the tree branches and whipped away. Rin withdrew the wires back into her boots, cursing under her breath. As she landed on a tree limb, her eyes were drawn to the kunai in the center of the tree. 'That's it!' Rin's eyes grew wide with realization. "Tatsumi!" she yelled, "Aim for the kunai in that things chest!"

Tatsumi nodded and looked at the kunai. It was giving off a faint glow, but that was enough. Tatsumi jumped back far enough and raised his sword to eye level. "Charge Seraphim!" he yelled as the blade became covered in black lightning. With a ferocious battle cry, Tatsumi jumped towards the tree aiming the blade at the kunai.

"Chidori Light Blade!" Tatsumi called as the black lightning raced at the kunai. When Neko finally saw that happening, she tried to block with the tree's arm, but the lightning was already within its defenses. The lightning struck hard, shooting out the back of the tree; thus also sending the lightning heated kunai into the ground. The tree became lifeless in an instant and soon after started to fall backwards.

"Damn these people," Neko cursed as she lept away from the tree and onto a nearby pond. She turned to the fight Naruto was in the middle of and smirked. Naruto was having a hard time fighting her undead underling.

"Wind Style: Severing Wind!" Naruto yelled sending a few blades of wind at the Mist ninja in front of him. Said ninja blocked with his gauntlet then shot his kunai towards Naruto. Without giving Naruto a second to recover, the undead Mist ninja was already in the air above him. Before Naruto realized what was happening, he felt a foot in his face.

"That was for a few days ago brat!" the Mist ninja yelled as he landed.

'Damnit. This guy is way more powerful than from a few days ago. Is it that weird jutsu she used?' Naruto thought to himself as he stood back up slowly. Naruto shifted his hands into a simple hand seal. "Multi-shadow clone jutsu!" he yelled as about 100 copies of Naruto appeared.

The mist ninja took a slight step back, "That's a lot of shadow clones." He looked around at them all.

"Well if you're not coming to us," one Naruto said.

"Then we'll come to you," Another finished.

"This fight is over as of now!" the real Naruto said as they all charged the Mist ninja.

The Mist ninja faltered as he watched the sea of orange come towards him, all with kunai aimed to kill. Even though the Mist ninja was already dead, that didn't mean he feel a bit of fear. The hundred Narutos all tackled the Mist ninja, stabbing the kunai into him, punching his face, and kicking his gut. Once the onslaught was over Naruto dispersed the clones and watched the ninja lie there, no longer undead.

Neko growled angrily, "Damn brat!" She charged at the unsuspecting Naruto. However, before she could reach the shore line, Rin was in front of her.

"I'm your opponent, Neko," Rin said dangerously.

Neko smirked, "Fine. I guess we can play together." Neko made a set of hand seals, "Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu!" The water Rin was standing on instantly warped up around her, forming a ball. Neko placed her arm inside before the jutsu could shatter. "Well, that was a short play date," she said in a high pitched girly voice.

"Rin-sensei!" Hinata yelled.

"Stay back! All of you! There's no way you can take her on. You need to run!" Naruto, Tatsumi, and Hinata recoiled hearing the last words. Run? How could they run with their sensei trapped like that? Neko would only hunt them down and kill them all.

"How can we just run away? She would only hunt us down if we ran. And we can't abandon you Rin-sensei," Hinata said quietly. Naruto and Tatsumi looked over at her then to each other.

Naruto threw a few kunai at Neko while Tatsumi made a set of hand seals. Neko dodged all of the kunai while keeping her arm inside of the water prison. "That's not going to work on me little boy," she said calmly looking at Naruto. Naruto already had a giant shuriken in his hand prepared to throw it. Her eyes widened slightly.

"Like I said before, something like that won't work on me," she growled as Naruto threw the shuriken. Neko watched as the shuriken flew straight at her. Her face remained calm as it got within feet of her body. She blocked with a kunai at the last second, sending the shuriken flying into the air. What she didn't notice, however, was that Tatsumi was missing and that the shuriken disappeared in a puff of smoke to be replaced by Tatsumi. His sword in hand and aimed down at Neko.

"Let my sister go!" he yelled as he sliced at Neko who dodged back, bringing her arm away from the water prison. The sword just barely sliced her cheek before Tatsumi landed in the water.

She glared at Tatsumi as he resurfaced. "You little brat!" she yelled. With kunai in hand, she charged Tatsumi, aiming the kunai at his throat. The kunai, struck a metal blade, inches from Tatsumi's face.

"As I said before," Rin said dangerously, looking Neko in the eyes with her activated Byakugan, "Your opponent is me." Rin flung her sword back, sending Neko skidding back across the water.

"New rules huh?" Neko asked to nobody in particular. "Fine then," she said making a complex set of hand seals. After about the 45th hand seal, she finished with the Bird seal. "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" Neko called. As soon as she finished calling the name of the jutsu, a giant dragon of water rose from behind her and wrapped around her in a defensive position. She made another set of hand seals, this time ending in the Ram seal, and called out another jutsu name. "Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu!" she yelled as the dragon raced towards Rin. It began to spiral around quickly with its maw opened. Rin jumped back just as the dragon crashed into the pond where Rin had been standing.

'Damn that was close,' Rin thought to herself. She jumped to the side to avoid the dragon bursting up through the pond under her. Rin brought Cherubim up to eye level. "Charge Cherubim," she said calmly. Rin pointed the sword at the water also releasing the wires in her boots down into the water. "Tatsumi. You better get out of the water now," Rin said dangerously.

Tatsumi knew the voice she was using all too well. Especially after he played the pranks on her that he did. He nodded and quickly swam to the shore and climbed out of the water. As soon as he stood up on solid ground, he bolted over to where Naruto, Hinata, Tazuna, and his clone holding Karin were standing. "That was too close for my comfort," he said panting.

"What's she doing Tatsumi-kun?" Hinata asked him, "And does she have a Byakugan?"

"Yes she does. Remember our mother was Mariko Hyuuga? Now watch her," Tatsumi said never taking his eyes off of his sister.

Just as Rin stabbed Cherubim into the water, the dragon burst through the surface behind Rin. "Lightning Barrage!" Rin yelled as electricity arced through the water heading straight for Neko. It also arced through the dragon that swallowed Rin whole. Rin felt her lightning attack hit her, but she simply absorbed the chakra back into her system. Rin also found out that the dragon's insides were the vortex that Neko called out. Rin couldn't figure out what was up or down. 'Damnit!' Rin yelled in her head, trying to hold her breath for as long as she could, but with the vortex swirling the way it was, she was having a hard time doing so.

Just before she ran of air, everything went cold. She could breathe air, but it was very cold. She opened her eyes and saw ice everywhere, she was in a small air pocket within, what she assumed was the dragon. "What the hell?" she questioned as she grabbed Cherubim from where it was incased in ice. She noticed the wires were still out of her boots. "Lightning Barrage!" Rin called as the wires lit up and shattered the ice under her. She withdrew the wires as she landed on a now frozen pond.

The genins and Tazuna were all shocked at what they just witnessed. The dragon had Rin in its belly and was crashing down and the resurfacing above the water. Then with half of its body submerged and the other half above, the entire pond just froze over. Neko was shocked and turned to see who had caused this. That was when she noticed the Tracker ninja mask.

"You?" she said quietly. "Why are YOU here?"

"To kill you, Neko," the masked person said simply.

"And do it by any means necessary," the taller one said from directly behind Neko, bending down to whisper in her ear. Rin jerked around and Neko lept away from him.

"Z-Zabuza-sama?" Neko quivered when she said his name.

The man called Zabuza stood up to his full height. The man towered over both Rin and Neko. He was at least 6'5" or 6'6".

The Tracker ninja lept down from the trees and stood beside the genins, watching Zabuza from behind the mask.

"I don't have time for this bullshit!" Neko cursed leaping away from the scene. She threw a couple of smoke bombs to cover her trail. The smoke gathered in a huge amount around the group of ninjas. Everybody coughed as they inhaled the smoke.

"Damn her," Zabuza said as the smoke cleared.

"She knew she had to retreat. Her chakra was almost out," Rin told him, deactivating her Byakugan. She walked over to Zabuza, "Thank you. Did she say your name was Zabuza?"

"Yes it is. Zabuza Momochi, or The Demon of the Hidden Mist," he replied to her. "And that over there is Haku."

Haku made a slight bow to Rin then turned to the genins. "Your friend, she's been poisoned right? I can help her," she said to Tatsumi.

"Not here Haku. Let's get somewhere else," Zabuza said.

"Right," she replied.

Rin nodded to the others, "Let's get to Tazuna's house." Rin walked over to where everyone was standing. She got closer to the group before her vision went black.

She didn't even hear the conscious genins calling her name as she fell. Zabuza picked her up bridal style and followed behind the group. The genins talked to Haku the entire way to Tazuna's house. When they arrived about an hour or two later, Tazuna rushed inside to clear off the table for Tatsumi to set Karin down. Haku took off her mask and came over beside Karin. When Tatsumi looked up, he noted that Haku was very pretty. Her green eyes fit her perfectly. Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, rushed all the males out of the room as Haku unzipped Karin's jacket.

"Bring Rin up here," Tazuna said as he shut the kitchen doors behind them. He walked upstairs and opened a door to reveal an empty guest room. He unfolded a blanket and laid a pillow up by the top. Zabuza set her down on the blanket and stood back up. Tatsumi looked at his sister lying there unconscious, worry was plastered all over his face.

"Don't worry kid. She's just exhausted. I would assume she used up too much chakra in that fight," Zabuza told him.

Tatsumi nodded, took his bag off his back and set it down by the wall, then turned and left the room. Naruto took his bag off as well and followed Tatsumi out followed by Tazuna and Zabuza. When Tatsumi came downstairs, Haku was standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

"She's stable and the poison is gone. Luckily I knew the type of poison the Demon Brothers used," Haku said when she saw Tatsumi walking off the bottom stair. She blushed when she saw Naruto come into the light.

Hinata saw the blush come over Haku's face when she came into the room. Hinata couldn't help but feel a hint a jealousy come over her. It was only human nature for that to happen. But Hinata refused to lose to somebody they just met.

"We need to go look at Rin-sensei too," Hinata said, bringing Haku out of her trance.

"Right," Haku nodded and followed Hinata upstairs, but not before casting another look at Naruto.

Zabuza chuckled quietly to himself as he watched Haku. 'She's growing up,' he thought to himself. Zabuza was like Haku's father. He had raised the girl since she was five when he found her scrounging around for food. Her parents had been killed during an uprising by her clan. Everyone was wiped out due to the uprising, even those who didn't take part in the revolt. Haku's parents hid her before the clan was attacked. They knew of the uprising, but had refused to take part in it. Zabuza hated the Mist for what they had done. He vowed that as soon as he could he would take his revenge on the Mizukage, but he never got the chance to do so. The Mizukage had been assassinated before Haku could graduate from the Tracker training classes. The new Mizukage had been the Three-Tailed Jinchuriki. He was the third person to claim the title. However, shortly after the third Mizukage gained his position, he just disappeared without a trace. And it was shortly after that incident that Zabuza and Haku left.

Ever since then they were branded rogue ninjas and avoided the Mist as much as possible. But they still had their problems from time to time. "Zabuza-san, why were you trying to kill that woman earlier?" Tatsumi asked Zabuza, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"She's a rogue ninja like me and Haku are. We are trying to get rid of her so she doesn't bring the Hidden Mist near us," Zabuza explained.

"But doesn't being a rogue ninja make you a traitor to your village?" Naruto asked.

"It does, kid. But it's better than following order that are foolish and cause your allies to die because of those orders. I'd rather be branded a traitor than do that to my allies," Zabuza told them.

Tsunami entered with a tray with cups of tea on it. "Thank you for bringing my father back in one piece," she told the ninjas who in turn nodded, thanking her for the hospitality and tea.

Karin walked out from the kitchen, zipping up her jacket. Tatsumi stood up and walked over to her and embraced her.

"Were you that worried about me, Tatsumi-kun?" she asked embracing him back.

"Yes I was. Don't ever do that to me again," he said quietly in her ear. Karin smiled and nodded into his chest.

Meanwhile, in the forest quite a ways away from Tazuna's house, Neko lay in her bed while another ninja with an orange mask covering his face healed her. The mask spiraled towards the ninja's right eye. Over where the right eye was there was a hole so the ninja could see. His eye was a fully activated Sharingan that looked dangerously down at Neko. "Neko, you fool. You should've been able to kill them, but instead you ran away," he said behind the mask.

"I wouldn't have had to if Zabuza and Haku hadn't showed up," she said quietly.

"Your old teacher and his new subordinate?" the man asked.

"Yes," Neko nodded. "They showed up as I was about to drown that Jounin." Neko cursed under breath. "Next time, I'll for sure kill them," she said more to herself than anyone.

"Well, either way you need to rest. You probably won't be able to move for a week after that battle. And the next battle you'll have one of Zetsu's clones with you," he said then disappeared into a weird dimension that only he could create.

As soon as he disappeared Neko shivered. That man always gave her the creeps. And to make things worse he was sending one of his underlings clones to fight with her. If the masked man wasn't creepy enough, the one named Zetsu sure was. Neko shivered again before a short man with two bodyguards walked into her room.

"I thought I hired you to kill that bridge builder?" the man asked.

"Gato. Yes you did, and he had ninja protecting him. Plus they got back-up from my old teacher. Otherwise I would've killed them all. But next time, you won't have to worry about them anymore," Neko said coldly to him.

Gato merely scoffed, "You better." He shot a glare at her before turning and leaving. His two goons shut the door behind them before they left.

"And when you pay me, I'm gonna kill you too..." Neko said quietly before drifting off to sleep.

As the week went by, Rin trained the group on the tree climbing exercise. Before the week was up, all four of her genins could climb to the top of their designated trees without falling. Karin, of course, used her support jutsu to heal herself completely before she tackled this type of training. Rin was proud of her subordinates for successfully completing the training. While they trained, Zabuza and Haku guarded the bridge builder. They hoped that Neko would show up so they could kill her, but sadly she never did.

As they almost reached home after a day of building, Naruto and Tatsumi jumped in their path. Their weapons clashed against each other and sweat dripped from their brows. They had been out here practicing for quite a while, Haku noticed. She eyed Tatsumi as he swung his sword at Naruto. Naruto ducked under the swing then attacked with his kunai before the both of them jumped off the road and back into the trees to continue fighting.

Haku blushed slightly as she watched Naruto. She was sad that he was taken by Hinata, but couldn't help but watch him. Maybe, just maybe she could get him for herself if she tried hard enough. She sighed, louder than intended. Zabuza turned his head and laid his hand on top of her head.

"You alright?" he asked Haku.

Haku looked up at her teacher and nodded, smiling. "I'm ok Zabuza-sama," she said to him.

Zabuza nodded and continued on. Tazuna walked into his house and took his shoes off by the door before walking further into the kitchen. Zabuza and Haku did the same thing. Haku walked over to the kitchen table and sat down beside Hinata and Karin. The three of them had become great friends over the past few days. Even after a rivalry between Haku and Hinata over Naruto had erupted. Karin couldn't help but laugh at them from time to time. Karin was just happy she wasn't after Tatsumi.

Shortly after, Rin came down stairs, limping slightly. "Where are the boys at?" she asked.

"Where else?" Karin replied.

"Training?" she sighed and sat down at the table.

Shortly after the two boys walked into the house, laughing. "That wasn't a bad attack back there Naruto. Nearly got me," Tatsumi said taking off his shoes by the door.

"It's something new I've been working on. Not going so well though," Naruto replied, taking his shoes off by the door as well.

"What's the point of training so much?" a small voice said from out of nowhere. "All that's going to happen is you getting killed by Gato's men. You don't have a chance in the world to defeat him."

"Inari!" Tsunami scolded her son.

"What? It's the truth. They can't do anything to stop him!" Inari raised his voice.

Naruto looked at the boy. "It's why we train so we can stop guys like that. We train so we can get stronger and not get defeated by guys like Gato. But I guess a coward like you wouldn't know anything about standing up for yourself." Naruto said the last part bitterly.

A hurt look came over Inari's face and tears began to well up. Everyone watched the two of them for an awkward thirty second silence. First they looked at Inari, then Naruto, then back to Inari, and then back to Naruto. Finally Inari broke down and started crying, not able to hold back any longer. Inari quickly turned and ran towards the stairs.

"Naruto!" Karin yelled at him as Inari ran upstairs.

"Whatever," Naruto walked out of the room and walked upstairs. 'Who does that kid think he is? Calling us ninjas weak. I'm gonna put him in his place right now!' Naruto thought to himself. As Naruto stood in front of Inari's door, he heard crying from inside.

"Huh?" Naruto leaned closer to the door and peered through the crack in the door. Inari was sitting on his bed staring at a picture.

"Daddy. Why did you have to die?" Inari sobbed, tears streaming down his face. "Why can't I be brave like you were? Why am I such a coward?"

Naruto looked down at his feet and turned around walking back downstairs. He walked into the kitchen without saying a word to anybody. Hinata smiled at him, but the smile soon faded as she saw the look Naruto had over his face.

"Where are you going, Naru-kun?" she asked as he put his shoes on.

"I'm going for a walk. I want to be alone for a little while," he said before walking out the door and shutting it behind him. As soon as he got outside, Naruto ran away from the house. He went passed the training area they had used for the tree climbing exercise and up to a hill he had found with Hinata one afternoon. The hill had a single tree atop it where Naruto sat down against it. He sighed to himself as he looked up at the sky. Naruto never had a mother of father to care for him so every time he saw somebody like Inari, he grew a little bit jealous. Even if Inari's father was killed, Naruto still couldn't help but feel jealous. He knew that it was a bad thing to feel towards a boy who had lost his dad, but he couldn't help it. A family was all Naruto had ever wanted throughout his entire childhood. Hell, just to not have the villagers look at him with such hateful, cold eyes would've sufficed sometimes.

He couldn't enjoy his life as a child when he went outside to train or to take a day just to walk around the village and see how many pranks he could cause before getting caught. Every day this was the normal routine, except for his birthdays. They were never like that. For a kid a birthday should be the greatest day ever for that year. They are one more year older and feel as though there is a higher respect being given to them. Well this was true for everyone but Naruto. Naruto's birthday just so happened to be the same day that the Nine-tailed fox attacked the Leaf Village, and the same day that the Fourth Hokage was killed. If Naruto ever left his apartment that the Third Hokage had given him, the looks from the villagers were ten times worse than any other day. You could almost feel the anger and killing intent in the air. One year the villagers even decided to attack him that day. Naruto had decided to go train that day and left his apartment to head to his favorite training spot. Once he got into the crowded streets, however, he knew there was something different. There were no crowds as usual, and even though Naruto couldn't see them, he could sure feel the villager's presence close by.

Naturally, Naruto shrugged this feeling off and continued to walk down the street. Once he got into the center of the street the villagers began to walk out of the alleyways. Every single one of them was holding some sort of weapon; whether it be a pitchfork, shovel, poorly made club, the occasional knife or sword, it didn't matter to Naruto. When he saw them, Naruto stopped dead in his tracks. Then they charged, they charged at him with weapons raised with every intent to kill. Before the horrific memory went any further, Naruto shook his head. He wanted to forget that day entirely and was able to when a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Naruto-kun!" the voice yelled. Naruto instantly knew it was Hinata. He could never forget that voice even if he tried.

Naruto remained silent when she yelled his name. He just wanted to be alone for a while.

"Oh! There you are Naru-kun!" she said excitedly when she found him sitting under the lone tree. She ran up to where Naruto was and sat down beside him. "What are you doing out here alone Naruto?" she asked.

"I shouldn't have said those things to Inari. Then when I went to go set him straight, I saw him crying. He was staring at a picture of his dad crying. I guess he died when Inari was younger. It made me think about not having any parents... And of everything that has happened to me in the past..." Naruto said as a single tear flowed down his face. The thought of never having parents hurt Naruto more than the cold glares the villagers always gave him when he walked in the village. Then he felt something he hadn't expected to feel: Hinata hugging him. She held his head to her chest, holding him as close as she could possibly get him to be to her.

She kissed the top of his head as the tears in Naruto's eyes began to flow. He hadn't cried like this when he thought about the parents he never had in a long time. But something was causing it now. Perhaps it was the thought of what Inari had to go through or the fact that somebody was caring for him as he spoke his feelings, Naruto didn't know. Nor did he care at that moment, he just wanted to be held by the girl he loved. Naruto soon wrapped his arms around Hinata's waist and held onto her tightly as though he could lose her any second. Although he wasn't squeezing her really hard, Hinata let out a small gasp when he held onto her. She wasn't expecting it, but she liked it nonetheless.

The two of them stayed liked that until the sun set over the horizon. They were silent the entire time. Naruto stood up, wiping the tears from his eyes and looked down at Hinata. She looked back up at him and smiled that heartwarming smile she always had. Naruto loved that about her. He held his hand to her; as she took it, Naruto helped her up. When she was standing fully, Naruto leaned down and kissed her soft lips. Hinata blushed at the suddenness of the kiss, but then kissed him back.

"Thank you for being there for me, Hina-chan," Naruto said quietly to her.

"I will always be there for you Naru-kun," she smiled and hugged him.

Naruto wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her back. As the two broke the embrace they didn't notice Haku standing in the tree line a ways away. She was sent out to go find them to bring them back for dinner, but when she found them she couldn't help but watch Hinata hold Naruto like that. She had watched them for about ten minutes, wishing that it was her there instead of Hinata. Haku shook her head. Who was she kidding? She had only just met Naruto and she was furiously infatuated with him. She hardly even talked to him, so the thought of being in Hinata's shoes was illogical. But that didn't mean she wasn't going to try her hardest to get him.

"Hey you two!" Haku called to them finally breaking out of her thoughts. Naruto and Hinata turned to see who was here. They waved when they saw it was Haku. "Rin-sensei told me to come find you guys. Dinner's probably ready by now," Haku said. The two genins nodded and walked down the hill to Haku. Then the trio headed back towards Tazuna's home.

When they arrived, dinner was finished and everyone was downstairs talking. Inari was the only silent one there. Naruto walked over to him and sat beside him. Naruto apologized about what he said earlier. By the end of dinner, Inari was laughing at Naruto's and Tatsumi's jokes they made towards Rin, who in turn smacked them both on the backs of their heads. This only earned more laughs from everyone at the table. Rin and Zabuza talked more to themselves than the others. They found out that they had a decent amount in common, especially swords. Tatsumi rolled his eyes when Rin stared in on all the swords she's had over the years, especially Cherubim. After dinner, everyone turned in for the night. Rin went to her room while the four genins all made pallets on the floor and fell asleep. Naruto held Hinata as they fell asleep together, Tatsumi did the same with Karin. Zabuza went to his own room and quickly fell asleep. Before Rin got into her room Haku stopped her.

"Rin-sensei. Can I sleep in there with you? There's not enough room down stairs and Zabuza-sama prefers to sleep alone," Haku said to her.

Rin smiled, "Sure thing." These two had become sort of like sisters over the past week. Rin got the little sister she never had and Haku got the older sister figure she had always wanted. Haku smiled and walked into Rin's room and made herself a pallet to sleep on.

"Rin-sensei," Haku said as she sat on her blanket.

"Hmm? What is it Haku?" Rin asked before turning off the light. "Is something the matter?"

"Kind of..." Haku replied. "How do you get boys to notice you?"

Rin was taken aback at the suddenness of the question, but soon overcame that. She knew Haku should've soon been thinking of boys and whatnot at her age. Rin was the same way when she turned thirteen, or was it twelve? She didn't remember. Rin looked at Haku and saw that she was blushing slightly. Rin smiled and sat down in front of Haku, "Well, first who's the boy?" Rin asked.

"Anon... It's umm..." Haku mumbled.

"Is it Naruto?" Rin asked, fully aware of who it was.

Haku blushed deeply and nodded shyly. "Y-yes," she managed to stutter. Even after being a rogue Tracker Ninja and able to kill anybody without being hesitant, this girl still had her shy side.

"I thought as much," Rin chuckled more to herself than Haku. "That's gonna be pretty tough to do. Even though I'm sure Naruto does notice you, he just doesn't do it in the way you seek. From the way I understand it, Naruto was very lonely as a child, never having any parents or friends made his life miserable. And on top of that the entire village hated him, thus making his life closer to a living Hell. Hinata was the first person to ever truly acknowledge him. She never hated him, but admired his determination from behind him. So he treasures her more than anything in this world. Not trying to sound like a downer, but that's an extremely tough bond that probably can't be broken."

Haku knew that Rin was right and looked down, sighing as she did. "Will I ever find anybody like that for me? I mean I'm not even that pretty and everyone seems to be afraid of me..."

"They just don't know you. And it's not you they fear but rather Zabuza. He looks quite menacing with his face wrapped up in that mask of his," Rin giggled, blushing slightly herself. "Even if it does give an air of mysteriousness to him. And as for you saying that you aren't pretty, that's not true. You are a very pretty young girl. Everybody knows it. That includes the boys."

"Really?" Haku said in a disbelieving tone.

Rin nodded smiling, "Oh yeah. Just because the boys each have someone special in their lives, doesn't mean that they don't notice beauty when they see it. It's the same for every guy out there on earth. They can't help but notice pretty girls, even when they are with their wives. I'm sure that there is somebody out there who likes you for who you are."

Haku smiled weakly at Rin, "Is there anybody you like Rin-sensei?"

"There's a possibility of that," Rin grinned.

"Oh yeah? Who is it?" Haku asked, her usual cheerfulness returning.

"I think you may already know."

"Is it Zabuza-sama?"

Rin smiled, blushing as she did. "Maybe," Rin said giggling slightly.

"I knew it!" Haku declared victoriously, smiling as she did. Her smile really did suit her face when she did.

"Haha!" Rin laughed quietly. "Alright, we need to get some sleep for tomorrow. And staying up all night gossiping isn't the greatest thing in the world, no matter how much fun it is," Rin said as she stood up and turned off the light. "Night Haku," Rin said as she laid down on her own pallet.

"Good night Rin-sensei," Haku said as she laid her head down on her pillow. Soon the two of them fell asleep. As the whole house fell silent, the two goons from earlier watched the house from the trees.

"When do we get to and attack them? I wanna cut something," the bigger one said. He wore his hair in a samurai ponytail. A long scar went across his face between his eyes, making him look ferocious. He had his jacket on, where it normally would've been around his waist. But since it was cold tonight, he decided warmth was more necessary. At his waist was a katana that nearly doubled the lengths of Tatsumi's and Rin's. He wore baggy pants with a few pockets in them. Not that they were really needed.

"After the bridge builder goes to work tomorrow. Gato told us to kill his family and leave the ninja to Neko," the second shorter guy said. He had almost shoulder length hair that was covered by a beanie. His ever present hoodie with sleeves that were too long for his arms was pulled closely around him. He wore cargo pants that held all manner of useless objects in them. Money, some nails, little bit of trash, basically just whatever he wanted to keep. Attached to his hip was a katana of the same length as his partners.

The first guy sighed, "I really hate waiting like this..."

The second guy just shrugged as he sat down against the tree they were standing on. "Whatever. You've got first watch," He said before closing his eyes to sleep.

"Jackass," the bigger guy retorted.

The next morning Rin woke everybody but Naruto and Tatsumi. They had been training non-stop for the past four days and they needed to rest. As Tazuna and the all the awake ninjas left, the two hiding in the trees watched closely. They knew that there were two more ninjas in that group that hadn't come out yet. The waiting game continued and those two were getting sick and tired of waiting.

Tatsumi woke up first between him and Naruto. He walked into the kitchen to find only Tsunami doing dishes.

"Hey where did everybody go?" he ask worriedly.

"They left already. Rin said you needed your rest since you've been training so hard. She thought that she would give you a break," Tsunami replied. As soon as the last words left her mouth Tatsumi was already dressed and out the door.

"Damnit Onesan!" Tatsumi cursed as he left. Tsunami only smiled at his eagerness to help out. Tatsumi ran as fast as he could towards the bridge.

The two in the trees groaned as they saw only one of the ninjas leaving.

"When in the hell is the other gonna leave? I'm so sick of this waiting bullshit," the bigger guy grumbled angrily.

"He'll leave when he leaves. But you're right. This waiting is bullshit," his partner said.

Meanwhile Naruto continued to snore lightly in his sleep. If Hinata saw him in this state, she would probably giggle at him. She loved to see him when he was like this. Hinata thought it was kinda cute. Soon after Naruto himself woke up. He stood up and yawned as he walked sleepily into the kitchen.

"Morning everyone. Sorry I overslept," Naruto said still in a sleepy daze. As he opened his eyes he realized he was only talking to Tsunami who was already busy making lunch.

"Morning Naruto. Everyone already left. You better hurry if you want to catch up with them. Tatsumi just left about ten minutes ago," she said smiling at him.

"WHAT?" Naruto asked loudly. "They left without me? Rin-sensei!" Naruto quickly got dressed and left waving goodbye to Tsunami. As he left the two goons in the trees smirked to themselves. Finally they would get to have their version of fun.

Naruto hopped up into the trees, "Damnit. Why didn't they wake me up?"

Once Naruto was far enough away the two jumped down from the tree they were in and slowly walked over to Tazuna's house. The smaller guy knocked on the door. "Just a moment!" they heard Tsunami call form inside. The door opened shortly after to reveal Tsunami drying her hands with a towel.

"Can I help you?" she asked. Her eyes grew wide when she realized who they were. These were the men who had killed her husband two years ago. Tsunami tried to slam the door in their faces, but they pushed through before she could. Both men had evil grins on their faces.

"Why hello their pretty lady," the bigger guy said to her with an evil smile.

"Get away from me!" Tsunami yelled and threw a plate at his head. The guy ducked under it easily as the other one ran around the table and grabbed her hair. He held his sword to her throat grinning evilly.

"Make one wrong move and I'll take your head off," he warned dangerously.

"Let's have some fun with her before we kill her and her son," the bigger guy suggested.

"I was thinking the same thing. But I say we kill her son right in front of her then have fun with her. That way she won't be so inclined to fight back," the shorter guy sneered.

"Right!" the big guy walked through the house and found Inari in his room.

"Let go of me!" Inari yelled trying to hit and kick the man.

"Please let my son go! He's just a boy!" Tsunami pleaded.

"Not a chance," the guy holding her said. He turned to face his partner. "Do it," he said calmly.

"With pleasure!" the bigger guy smiled evilly as he drew his sword and brought it down, slicing through Inari's neck. Tsunami screamed loudly when she saw the blow, but then recovered her composure when the body disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"A simple substitution with one of my shadow clones," a voice said from the door way. The two goons turned quickly to see who the voice belonged to. It was none other than Naruto Uzumaki with the usual stupid grin plastered on his face. He was holding Inari over his shoulder.

"That was really cool Naruto. Thanks for saving me," Inari said as he got down.

"No problem. Sorry I was late," Naruto smirked.

"Damn brat," the bigger guy said and charged Naruto with his sword aimed to kill. Naruto smiled as two clones jumped behind the guy holding Inari's mom. They both delivered hard karate chops to the sides of his head, knocking him out cold. The big guy was almost at Naruto and Inari. At this point Naruto stood up and blocked his sword with his two kunai in a cross-shaped fashion.

"All that training with Tatsumi now pays off," he smirked. "This is for Inari's dad!" Naruto yelled as he delivered a strong kick to the guy's stomach. As the guy hunched over in pain, Naruto grabbed him by the collar and flung him out the door into the waiting fists of two more Naruto shadow clones. Both of the clone's fists sailed right into the guys jaw. The sound of bones could be heard snapping from inside the house. The man landed on his back in pain.

"You little bastard!" he yelled as he drew a dagger from behind his back. He stood up and watched Naruto from where he landed.

"If you want to live, I would suggest that you just stay over there and not attack me," Naruto said calmly yet dangerously.

"Not gonna happen!" the guy yelled as he began to charge towards Naruto. The clones that were still in the house grabbed the unconscious goon and tossed him to the real Naruto who in turn threw him at the charging goon. The dagger stabbed through the man's heart as the two collided.

"You little brat. That hurt!" the big guy yelled as he pulled his dagger free of his partners back. Naruto dispelled his clones and fully faced the guy this time. He still had both of his kunai in his hands. Naruto ran to face the attack head on. He ducked under a wild slash from the dagger. Naruto brought one kunai up under the goons arm and stabbed it up through his shoulder. Then in a quick and solid movement, Naruto got behind the guy and stabbed the other kunai through his heart.

Naruto sighed, "I told you to just stay over there."

"That was incredible Naruto!" Inari yelled form the house. Naruto turned to smile at Inari.

"Of course it was! I did it," Naruto grinned like an idiot. He walked over to Inari and squatted down the his eye level. "But killing isn't all that it's cut out to be. You shouldn't do it just because you can. Only do it if necessary; like to protect those closest to you," Naruto told him. Inari nodded at his words. "Now take care of your mom while I'm gone. I've got to get to the bridge," Naruto said, standing up and taking off in the direction of the bridge.

'I hope they aren't in any trouble...' Naruto thought to himself as he jumped through the trees.

As the group reached the bridge, they noticed a dense mist had fallen over everything. Everything was quiet, way too quiet for a construction site.

"Byakugan," Hinata called as she engaged her eyes. "This mist is filled with chakra. I can also see the rest of the builder's unconscious all over the place." Everyone drew their weapons as Rin also engaged her Byakugan.

"Well, it certainly took you all long enough to get here. I was beginning to wonder if I was gonna have to wait all day," Neko's voice said from somewhere in the mist.

"Stay on your guard everyone. I trained her before she went rogue," Zabuza said as he drew his guillotine sword.

"You trained her? Why didn't you say something earlier?" Rin said as she drew Cherubim from its sheath.

Zabuza didn't answer as group all put their backs towards Tazuna to protect him. "Why don't you also tell them what my blood pact ninjutsu can do, Zabuza-sama," Neko said as she revealed herself finally. There was also a man with pure white skin and yellow eyes beside her. He had green hair and wore a black robe with a red cloud pattern on it. He honestly looked like a monster.

"On second thought, why don't I just show you myself?" Neko smirked evilly as the made a single hand seal and directed her attention to Haku. "Blood Pact Control!" Neko called.

Haku seemed to go into a daze as she walked over to Neko. "Haku! No!" Zabuza yelled. He glared at Neko who only smirked back.

"You shouldn't have chosen her instead of me as an apprentice," Neko said coldly to him. She then turned to Haku, "Kill them my dear."

Haku merely nodded and drew a couple of senbon from her weapons pouch. She then charged towards the group of ninjas, aiming for Hinata first. Her jealousy and the jutsu made her attack what her strongest emotion, jealousy at the time, was directed towards. Just before Haku reached Hinata, however, a sword cut the senbon in half. Everyone on the bridge was shocked to see who it was. Tatsumi landed in a crouch from his leap from the top of a construct that was made to offer shade to the workers during the intense heat of the day. He stood up slowly and glared at Neko with eyes that had a red glare to them. Neko thought it was a trick of the light, but soon realized it was actually his eyes. Tatsumi had just activated his Sharingan for the first time in his life. The right eye had a single comma shaped mark near the pupil while the left eye and two.

"If, you want to make her fight somebody, I'll be her opponent," Tatsumi said coldly to Neko.

Neko smirked to herself. Was this boy a fool for wanting to fight Haku alone. Neko knew all of Haku's jutsu. Her favorite was the Crystal Ice Mirrors. "Very well. But just so you know, you've signed your very own death warrant," Neko said as Haku made a set of one handed hand seals. The water under the bridge rose up and formed around Haku.

"Secret Jutsu: A Thousand Needles of Death," Haku said calmly as the water formed a very large amount of senbon.

Tatsumi's eyes widened, but not with fear. He saw the attack coming before it even happened. He lept high into the air, making the water senbon strike the bridge. They turned right back into water as the hit solid ground, Tatsumi noticed.

"Charge Seraphim!" Tatsumi yelled, making his sword glow with black lightning. "Stun Charge!" Tatsumi called as he swept the air in front of him aiming the lightning directly at Haku. He didn't want to kill his comrade, but just take her out of commission.

Haku lept back, causing the attack to strike nothing but the bridge and some water. The lightning arced through the water and nearly zapped Hinata and Karin.

"Watch it!" Karin yelled at him, although she wasn't angry.

"Sorry!" Tatsumi said back to her. Once he landed, Tatsumi didn't wait for even a second before charging at Haku. "Haku, you need to wake up!" Tatsumi yelled to her. Haku didn't respond when Tatsumi said anything to her. Just before Tatsumi could hit her with the flat of Seraphim, she drew a senbon in each hand and cross blocked with them. Haku sent a kick towards Tatsumi's gut which he easily dodged thanks to his partially complete Sharingan.

This time Haku took to offensive measures. She threw her senbon at Tatsumi then drew more between each of her fingers on each hand. As soon as she had them drawn, Haku flung them at Tatsumi. Tatsumi saw the first two coming so he jumped. He realized that was a mistake after he remembered that his teammates were behind him. Tatsumi quickly drew two kunai from his weapons pouch and tossed one at each senbon. The kunai struck each senbon, knocking them to the ground harmlessly. The next eight, however, he could not block.

Hinata saw those senbon would not be directed off course in time, so she did what anybody would do: jump in front of her teammates. 'Please work this time,' Hinata thought to herself as she took a gentle fist stance. "Eight Trigram Palm Rotation!" she yelled as she began to spin around wildly. A shield of chakra formed around spinning wildly. The senbon struck the wall of spinning chakra and were deflected off course; all but two were, that is. The rotation technique that Hinata was using was only partially completed. So there were some gaps within the shield. The two senbon that weren't deflected struck Hinata in the chest as she came back around.

The rotation technique ended in an instant and Hinata flew back several feet from the impact of the senbon, screaming loudly in pain. The senbon had a poison on them that was made to make the victim feel immense pain for a short period of time. Hinata flew back into Karin who was standing directly behind her. They both fell on their backs in a heap and tangle of limbs. Hinata continued to yell out as Karin got up and removed the senbon from Hinata's chest. Hinata flailed her arms around her chest, trying to suppress the pain.

"Support Jutsu: Pain Suppression!" Karin called and placed her hand directly where Hinata had been wounded. The pain became somewhat bearable now, although Hinata still clutched at her chest.

Tatsumi cursed himself for being so naive to even think of dodging like that. He had to apologize to Hinata later, but that would have to wait. Haku was already moving to attack him again. 'Damn she's quick. I never expected such speed from her,' Tatsumi thought to himself as he blocked a senbon sent flying towards his face.

Over with Naruto for a moment. "Damnit! I really hope I'm not too late!" he said to the empty air. Just then he heard a sound that made him stop dead in his tracks. His eyes full of emotions. Shock, anger, disbelief, and most of all fear. Fear for the most precious person in his life. He was fairly close to the bridge now, so when the sound of Hinata screaming in agony was heard his pace quickened. He had to get there to protect her. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if the person he loved died now.

"Argh!" Tatsumi growled as he was struck in the upper arm of by a senbon. Luckily for him this one wasn't poisoned.

"Play time is over," Haku said coldly. 'Why can't I stop this! I don't want to fight my comrades!' Haku screamed inside her head. She momentarily stopped but then resumed fighting. This pause did not go unnoticed by Neko.

'She's fighting the Blood Pact. Little brat,' Neko thought to herself.

"Ice Style: Ice Rose Jutsu!" Haku called. The air instantly became much colder as a rose made out of pure ice rose up from the ground directly under Haku's feet. "Now you will die," she said as she stepped into one of the petals, there were fifteen in all. Almost instantly the other petals had an exact copy of Haku in them. Tatsumi rushed towards the jutsu hoping to shatter it, but stopped when the petals all detached themselves from the stem of the ice rose. Each petal had Haku facing Tatsumi. They all moved around in a circle to surround Tatsumi. Haku had senbon in each of her hands. She threw them at Tatsumi, but he realized that the ice petals did the same and they were real senbon, not illusions. Just what the hell was this jutsu? Tatsumi did his best to block each senbon, but was soon struck in the back of the knee with one. And soon after more and more senbon flew through his defenses, all piercing Tatsumi's flesh. Once Haku finished the onslaught, Tatsumi had senbon stuck into his arms, back, chest, and legs. He panted heavily, with only one eye opened. A lucky throw grazed his eye, but not enough to blind him in that eye. However, there would probably be a scar there later on.

"Charge Seraphim!" Tatsumi said weakly. The blade once again became wreathed in black lightning. "Chidori Light Blade!" Tatsumi called as he sent the attack towards the stem. He had realized that the stem was the control unit for the petals halfway through the onslaught. The attack struck but not before the real Haku lept out of the stem. As the lightning hit, the stem shattered into thousands of pieces. This also made the petals break apart and do the same thing. Tatsumi then fell back, still clutching Seraphim.

Haku watched him fall with no emotions showing on her face. 'NO!' she screamed in her head. Haku turned to the rest of the ninjas and watched them. This time Zabuza stepped forward.

"Haku. Stop this, please," He said to her, hoping to break her out of the jutsu. When Haku didn't respond, Zabuza sighed. He could never kill her, but he had to knock her unconscious. He drew his sword in a one handed grasp then charged towards her. Just before Zabuza reached her, he was kicked away by a completely white foot.

"I'll be your opponent," the white creature said as he landed on his feet. Zabuza crashed into some supplies and grunted with pain.

"Why you. Who the hell are you?" he yelled angrily.

"If you want to know someone's name, you should introduce yourself first," the white... thing said casually.

"Fine then, if you really want to know the name of your killer so be it. I'm Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the hidden Mist," he said.

"That's good to know. I'm Zetsu. But not the real Zetsu. He's back at base. I'm merely a copy of him," Zetsu said.

Zabuza's eyes widened at that fact. Not the real one? Who would just openly admit that in the middle of a battle? It didn't matter to Zabuza, he was going to kill him here and now. Zabuza then made a quick hand seal. "Hidden Mist Jutsu!" he called as a huge amount of mist descended onto the battlefield. "Just so you know, I am a master of the silent killing technique," Zabuza said from somewhere in the mist.

"Well with you talking it doesn't sound very silent, baka," Zetsu taunted.

"Heh, is that so?" Zabuza asked directly behind Zetsu. Zetsu was shocked that Zabuza was right behind him. He jumped away from a sword attack that could easily chop him in half.

"This is gonna be more fun than I had expected," Zetsu said with a smirk as he attacked Zabuza with a kunai in hand.

Haku was moving to attack the rest of the group. Rin stood in front of her with Cherubim raised waiting for an attack. Haku charged, senbon present in her hands. What surprised Rin the most was not the speed of the next attack, but the person who was attacking. Hinata had gotten up from where she was lying. Her Byakugan was activated and he hands were glowing with chakra. That had to be the Hyuuga Gentle Fist. Rin would recognize it anywhere since she had seen her mother use it so many times before she left. Hinata knocked the senbon away from her as she sent her palm at Haku's torso. Haku saw the attack and jumped back before any serious damage could be dealt. Even though Haku was under the effects of a jutsu, she still remember sparring with Hinata once. That attack could do a tremendous amount of damage to a person's body.

"I'm going to end this quickly," Haku said as she made a unique hand seal. "Secret Jutsu: Crystal Ice Mirrors!" she called as 21 rectangular mirrors of ice were created almost out of thin air. Once they finished forming around Hinata, Haku stepped into one of the mirrors. Instantly 20 other copies were made on the other mirrors.

"Now that you have been trapped in this jutsu, you will die," Haku said as she began to throw senbon in a similar onslaught that she had Tatsumi trapped in earlier.

"Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation!" Hinata yelled as she began to spin around rapidly, forming a chakra sphere around her. The senbon were deflected off the shield of chakra. But again, Hinata's jutsu wasn't complete yet so not all senbon were deflected. Many of them began to get through the gaps and stabbed Hinata's arms and legs. Despite the pain she was in, Hinata continued to use her jutsu. But as one senbon found its way through the gaps and stabbed her in the direct center of her chest, she stopped abruptly. This was another of those poisoned senbon. In fact a few of them that were currently in Hinata's flesh also had the same poison on them, but the adrenaline was keeping the pain at bay. She screamed in agony once again as she fell forward. A well-aimed senbon was sent towards the base of her neck where her spine and neck connect. Time seemed to stretch on for an eternity as Tatsumi lifted his head to see his comrade fall and the senbon flying towards her.

Rin and Karin yelled out to Hinata, hoping to make her regain her composure. Still Hinata didn't move from where she lay. 'I'm sorry, Naru-kun. It seems this is the end for me...' she thought to herself.

What happened next made everyone there gasp. The senbon melted! They didn't even see him approach, and what shocked them more was that he was covered in a red aura.

"Don't you dare lay another finger on Hinata-chan!" Naruto yelled dangerously. The six whisker shaped marks on his face had darkened and grew in size and his eyes had turned red with slits for pupils. Even his teeth and nails had sharpened. The red aura swirled around Naruto as he growled at Haku. For the first time since the jutsu was activated, Haku seemed scared.

'That's Naruto-kun? But what happened to the sweet boy? This isn't him,' Haku thought to herself. Naruto dashed faster than Tatsumi's Sharingan could follow towards one of the mirrors. Naruto raised his hand to smash the mirror with brute force. Just before the clawed hand hit, Haku jumped out of the mirror and into another. Naruto shattered the mirror into a million pieces, surprising Haku.

'This boy would be fun to use against his comrades,' Neko thought evilly to herself as she tossed a vial of red liquid at Haku. Haku grabbed the vial and nodded. The next time Naruto got close to her, she opened the vial and splashed it into his mouth before leaping out of the mirror.

"Now! Blood Pact Control!" Neko yelled as the same daze that came over Haku, now came over Naruto. Neko laughed maniacally. She now had two of the most powerful people under her control. Naruto moved to stand beside Haku and stared at his comrades with the same blank expression that Haku had.

"Kill them all," Neko said as Naruto and Haku took up attacking positions then charged. Haku went for Rin while Naruto charged towards Karin.

"Charge Cherubim! Now Stun Charge!" Rin yelled as she charged Haku head on. Haku dodged, but failed to see the wires from Rin's boots strike her body from below. They carried the same attack in them. Haku screamed as the electricity jolted through her entire system. Just before Haku fell she smiled weakly at Rin.

"Thank you Rin-san," she said quietly as she fell to the ground unconscious.

"What a nuisance that jutsu is," Rin complained as she turned to go help out Karin. At that time, Neko appeared in front of her and sent her flying back with a punch to the face.

"Don't even think about it bitch. You're all going to die here," Neko said dangerously.

"Fine then," Rin said as she stood up and held Cherubim in a striking position. The two dashed at each other and locked weapons before engaging in further combat.

As Naruto aimed a swipe at Karin's head she ducked under it. All they could do was dodge since Naruto was relentless. He never stopped attacking so all she could do was dodge. Karin didn't' dare block, not knowing what an attack from Naruto could do in this state. As Karin continued to dodge back, she didn't notice a small puddle of water approaching fast.

"S-stop it... Naruto. Please," Tatsumi said barely louder than a whisper. "Stop it. Stop it. STOP!" He finally yelled as he got up and charged at Naruto, the adrenaline surging through his veins. Karin stepped back one last time and right onto the puddle causing her to slip and fall back. She watched in horror as Naruto aimed his claws at her throat. She closed her eyes waiting for the inevitable, but never felt it. She opened her eyes to see Tatsumi standing in front of her with Naruto's clawed hand sticking out of his back.

"Tatsumi-kun! NO!" she screamed as he turned to smile at her slightly. Tears began to stream down her face as she saw the boy she had fallen in love with being stabbed. What happened after that made her recoil. The red aura that had developed over Naruto was now doing the same thing to Tatsumi.

'NO! This can't happen!' Larka screamed inside of Tatsumi's head. Tatsumi's sharpest teeth began to grow much longer and claws similar to Naruto's formed on his hands. His eyes did the same as Naruto's except for the pupil. It was a three-point star in the direct center. Also, to Karin's amazement, Tatsumi had an actual tail forming behind him. His ears were also becoming more wolf-like. Instead of being on the side of his head, they were on the top and covered in black fur.

Tatsumi grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled it free of his shoulder. The wound healed up in an instant. He then threw Naruto towards a pile of heavy steel beams. Naruto crashed into them and yelled in pain. Tatsumi then grinned at Naruto, but the grin wasn't a happy one. It was evil, pure evil. Karin couldn't believe what her eyes were seeing. Her Kekkei Genkai didn't tell her this about Tatsumi. His chakra had become completely dark and evil with only course of action: Kill. As Naruto stood up he turned to face Tatsumi, sneering angrily. This next fight would be very deadly and Karin had to get the bridge builder and her comrades out of the way...

**Man what a chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading it. The last part definitely had to be my favorite. And doesn't everybody just hate cliffhangers? Rhetorical question. Anyway, hopefully I will have the next chapter up soon, but with work and everything, it's gonna be a little difficult. But this is ForsakenAng3l signing off.**


	3. OC Character Bios

A New Beginning O.C. Bio's

Tatsumi Uchiha: Age 13. Younger brother of Rin Uchiha and son of Itachi Uchiha and Mariko Hyuuga. Former ninja from the Village Hidden in the Flowers. He was left there when Itachi and Mariko left the Hidden Leaf after Itachi murdered his clan. Tatsumi and Rin were both in one of the Hidden Flower factions. One side wants power, while the other wants peace. Power hungry faction known as the Nightshade Destroyers and the faction wanting peace is known as Amaryllis Defenders. They were, unfortunately, put into the Nightshade Destroyers. Nightshade forced the both of the to learn jutsu quickly and trained them to be military assets. They wanted the siblings to become fighters for the civil war going on between Nightshade and Amaryllis. An agent from Amaryllis found the siblings and asked them to join their cause. The two agreed and became hidden spies. Both Rin and Tatsumi preferred peace to war so the choice was obvious. Tatsumi wields a sword known as Seraphim. Nightshade gave him his sword when he made his first kill. (Look at Seraphim's bio for more info.) Tatsumi can use Lightning Style ninjutsu to a point, but only while wielding Seraphim. His own jutsu include Nightshade Vine, Nightshade Blades, and Amaryllis Spear, even though he prefers to use Seraphim's power. Tatsumi also happens to be a Jinchuuriki; and a twin Jinchuuriki with Naruto. The tailed beast he has sealed inside of him in the Nine-tailed Wolf. The wolf's name is Larka and is a great ally to Tatsumi. (Larka's bio down below.) Current rank is Genin.

Rin Uchiha: Age 19. Older sister of Tatsumi Uchiha and the daughter of Itachi Uchiha and Mariko Hyuuga. A prodigy from the Uchiha much like Itachi was. Also a former ninja of the Hidden Flower's Nightshade faction. She rose through the ranks in Nightshade to pass info to Amaryllis. She became a Genin of the Hidden Flower a year after she was brought to the Hidden Flower and then a Chunnin another year and a half after that. She wields a sword called Cherubim. (See bio below.) Nightshade also gave her the sword after she gained a good rank in Nightshade. She can use Lightning Style ninjutsu as her main elemental style and has earth as her second affinity. She and her little brother left the Hidden Flower with the help of an Amaryllis agent and sent them to the Hidden Leaf to be freed from the civil war. At the Hidden Leaf they were tested by Kakashi Hatake by order of the Hokage. Rin was accepted into the Chunnin ranks while her little brother went to the academy. A few months before Tatsumi passed the Genin exams, Rin was promoted to the rank of Jounin. She was also recommended to become a Jounin sensei to a team of Genin by Kakashi. And shortly after that she became sensei of Squad Seven; consisting of Naruto, Hinata, Tatsumi, and Karin. Current rank is Jounin.

Larka (Nine-tailed Wolf): The twin sister to Kurama (Kyuubi) and one of the tailed beasts created from the Ten-tails during the time of the Sage of the Six Paths. She is the tailed beast sealed away in Tatsumi.

Seraphim: A pure black katana that Tatsumi wields. Seraphim can project an astral image of itself in the form a pitch black wolf when a little bit of Tatsumi's chakra is pumped into the hilt. Seraphim uses lightning release attacks and helps Tatsumi in battle.

Cherubim: A completely white katana that Rin wields. Cherubim, like Seraphim, can project and astral image of itself in the form of a pure white lynx. Cherubim uses lightning attacks and can increase Rin's lightning using abilities.

Mariko Hyuuga: Daughter of Hiashi Hyuuga and older sister to Hinata. She hated the way the clan was run and couldn't stand the idea of being forced into a marriage she didn't want; especially when her heart was taken by non other than Itachi Uchiha. The two were married in secret, but eventually it came to the ears of the clan elders. Mariko was shunned by everyone and was forced to get the branch seal burned into her forehead; although she defied the elders and left without getting the seal on her head. She lived with Itachi in the Uchiha compound where she gave birth to a daughter and then a son six years after that. The memories of her were whipped from Hinata's head after she left. Soon after Itachi killed his entire clan with the exception of Sasuke, they left the village and joined the Akatsuki.

Tsubasa: A member of the Akatsuki that is known for using strong sword attacks. He has a unique curse mark on his left shoulder. When activated a single demonic wing bursts from his back and increases his attacking force. He uses wind style Ninjutsu with the wing. Not much else is known about his history except that he killed the village he was living in when he was a child and has been with the Akatsuki for a very long time.

**Well that's the character bios for the OCs. If I decide to add any more OCs then I'll put them on the list. Remember to review and I also don't own Naruto or any of the music I mention in the story. So please don't sue me.**


	4. End the Wave Mission and Begin the Snow

**A New Beginning**

**Chapter Three: End the Wave Mission and Begin the Snow**

**LEGEND: "…" speech**

'…' **thinking**

**(…) probably authors notes**

_**italics will purely be flashbacks**_

**- Scene change**

**Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait. Work sucks and life decides to throw curveballs all the time so here's the next chapter. Remember to review! Also I do not own Naruto just my OC's.**

Naruto and Tatsumi faced each other with hate in both of their eyes. Well in Tatsumi's case it was more evil than hate, but hate nonetheless. Tatsumi then began to laugh evilly, the sound was the most horrifying thing Karin had ever heard. She knew that it was Tatsumi in front of her, but not the Tatsumi that she knew. Something had taken over his mind and body.

"Damn does it feel good to be somewhat free at last," Tatsumi said, never taking his eyes off Naruto. His voice was too happy for someone who looked so evil and menacing. Karin shook where she was lying, the feeling of evil was washing over her. She wasn't the only one with that feeling. Rin felt it as she blocked a kunai from Neko. Neko felt it as she ducked under a swing from Rin. Zetsu was frozen from the feeling of evil, this also allowed Zabuza to end his life with the guillotine blade. Zabuza nearly faltered before he swung his blade. After the attack landed, he turned to where Tatsumi and Naruto were facing each other. His eyes widened when he saw the two boys with their red auras around them. They looked very deadly, more deadly than Zabuza used to be when he was an assassin in the Hidden Mist.

As for the unconscious girls, the dangerous auras were waking them up. Hinata woke first. She groaned as she sat up, some of the senbon fell out of her. Hinata cringed due to the pain she was still feeling. Then a blast of wind hit her and heard a very dangerous growl. She turned her heard and saw Naruto jumping through the air at Tatsumi. She gasped when Naruto's fist smashed Tatsumi's face, sending him flying away. However, what she heard next sent chills all the way down to her soul.

"Is that seriously all you have, kid?" Tatsumi said, standing as if the punch didn't even phase him. Haku woke up at this point and gasped when she saw Naruto. She saw him covered in the red aura earlier, but that was when she was under the effects of the blood pact jutsu. Now she could truly see what was going on. Fear was the only emotion she could feel right now. That is until she saw Tatsumi.

"You're pathetic. And your supposed to be the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. Hah!" Tatsumi sneered at Naruto before disappearing. Tatsumi reappeared before Naruto, sending a kick into Naruto's chin. Naruto flew up into the air where Tatsumi appeared directly above him punching Naruto back down to earth. Naruto hit, creating a crater in the bridge. Naruto coughed blood and shook his head.

"What the hell happened...?" Naruto pondered as the jutsu was broken.

'Good you're awake kid,' the Kyuubi said in Naruto's head.

'Kurama? What's going on?' Naruto asked in his head.

'You were under a jutsu and now Tatsumi is going on a rampage. I don't know why. It could've been when he touched my demonic chakra, but that's just a speculation.'

Naruto looked up when a wave of evil hit him. Tatsumi was flying down towards him and frightening speeds with Seraphim aimed to slice Naruto in half. Naruto jumped away just before Tatsumi hit the ground.

"So you've regained your consciousness. Good then it will be a whole lot better for me when I kill you," Tatsumi grinned evilly.

"Tatsumi! You need to wake up out of that!" Naruto yelled at him.

"Wait. Do you think I'm Tatsumi?" Tatsumi started to chuckle that soon became an uncontrollable laughter. "I'm not Tatsumi! I may be using his body but, I'm actually the Ten-tails portion from Larka! You see their are ten Bijuu out there, and each one of them is merely a portion of me," Tatsumi grinned evilly.

'He's not lying Naruto... There is a portion of the Ten-tails chakra in each of us,' Kurama told Naruto.

"Damnit..." Naruto cursed. "Then I'll just have to wake you up myself!" Naruto yelled as he charged at Tatsumi, making a set of hand seals. He jumped into the air and called out his jutsu, "Wind Style: Severing Wind!" A blade of wind blasted from Naruto's arm infused with red chakra.

"Like I said earlier: pathetic," Tatsumi put his hand up and caught the blade of wind. He threw it at Neko and Rin's direction. The two of them gasped as it got close and barely missed them. Neko grew enraged.

"You asshole! That nearly hit me!" she yelled and charged at Tatsumi. Without taking his eyes off of Naruto, Tatsumi grabbed Neko's throat with a grip of iron. Neko grabbed Tatsumi's arm and tried to break his grip.

"You're in my way woman," Tatsumi said as he threw Neko into a pile of steel beams. She yelled in pain as one of the beams crushed her leg. "Actually..." Tatsumi turned to her. "You have quite a lovely voice when you scream." Tatsumi smirked evilly as he turned to face her.

Neko trembled in fear as Tatsumi, who had completely forgotten about Naruto, approached her. Just before he reached her, however, Naruto jumped in front of Tatsumi and swung a punch at him. Naruto's fist connected to Tatsumi's face. Normally Tatsumi would've been sent flying, like the last punch, but this time Tatsumi barely turned his head.

"That hurt kid," Tatsumi said as he turned back to Naruto. Tatsumi smirked and grabbed Naruto's throat with lightning speed. Tatsumi then threw Naruto at Rin, but not before absorbing the red chakra that was covering Naruto. Rin caught him before they crashed on the ground. "Thanks for the snack kid," Tatsumi said as he faced Neko now, his evil smirk present once again. "And now it's time for you to die," he said quietly to her.

Neko watched him with wide eyes full of fear. "Please don't kill me," Neko said in desperation. She was trembling with fear.

"Too late," Tatsumi said as he stabbed his sword into her stomach. "You won't die right away, but it'll be painful," Tatsumi said chuckling then laughing uncontrollably.

"Tatsumi..." a quiet voice said directly behind him. He felt a pair of arms wrap around him. This caused the laughing to subside and a confused look to come over his face. "Please stop this. You are a good person. I know you are..." the person said again. Tatsumi turned his head to see Karin burying her face in Tatsumi's back, her sobs could barely be heard but easily felt since she was so close to him.

"You are a foolish girl," Tatsumi said to her as he turned and lifted his sword to strike her down. "Now die!" Tatsumi yelled as he swung his sword down. Time seemed to stretch on for eternity as the attack fell towards Karin. Just before the attack hit, however, Tatsumi was sent flying away from a kick to his chest.

"Wake up Tatsumi!" Naruto yelled as he charged him. Tatsumi landed on all fours before jumping up and facing Naruto. Naruto made four shadow clones as he ran.

"Ooh. Shadow Clones, huh?" Tatsumi sneered as the five Naruto's approached. He prepared for an attack but was caught off guard when another shadow clone caught him from behind before he could swing Seraphim. "What the hell?!" Tatsumi growled angrily. At this point the shadow clones began their attack. Punches and kicks rained down on Tatsumi. Tatsumi grew tired of this quickly and broke free of the clone's grip. He flipped Seraphim around and stabbed him in the chest, making it disappear in a cloud of smoke. He then charged up Seraphim with electricity and sliced all the clones across their chests.

At this point the real Naruto had jumped into the air and was heading straight for Tatsumi. He had no chance to block this attack as his attention was otherwise occupied. The last clone disappeared in a puff of smoke as the real Naruto neared. "It's time to wake up!" Naruto yelled as he head butted Tatsumi. They both recoiled from the hit, but Naruto quickly recovered and charged again, driving his knee into Tatsumi's gut. As Naruto lifted his head so that Tatsumi's face was level with his, he slammed his head again into Tatsumi's. "Wake up Tatsumi!" Naruto yelled as he did another head butt, causing them both to bleed severely.

"Damn you kid!" Tatsumi yelled as Naruto punched his face.

"I'm not gonna let you harm anyone else, bastard Ten-tails!" Naruto screamed as he did yet another head butt. Suddenly Naruto was standing in a cave. "What the hell is this? Genjutsu?" Naruto asked out loud.

'You're in Tatsumi's mind Naruto,' the Kyuubi said to Naruto.

"You seem more friendly now than you were before," Naruto told him.

'Don't push your luck, kid. I just want to get rid of the ten-tails,' Kurama growled.

"I believe you do, but I also think that there's more to it than that," Naruto began to walk down the cave.

'There's no other reason!' Kurama yelled. Naruto just shrugged as he walked down the cave. He could see a light getting closer by the minute. Soon the light filled the cave and Naruto could see a beach.

"What the hell is this?" Naruto asked to nobody in particular. He looked around the sight in front of him. The weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold. A slight breeze blew towards him, bringing the scent of salt water to his nose. The breeze also carried with it voices. Naruto recognized them as his teammates. As he walked down from the cave to the beach he slowly began to recognize each of his friends out in the water. They were all wearing swimwear, of course. Naruto blushed when he saw Hinata wearing a purple bikini. She looked really good in it, as did Karin. Even though they were cousins, he couldn't help but admire her body, also wearing a bikini; hers, however, was pink.

"Yo Naruto!" Tatsumi yelled as he threw Karin in the water, making her yell.

"Tatsumi! You jerk!" Karin yelled playfully at him as she resurfaced, splashing water on him.

"What are you guys doing?" Naruto asked confused when he got down to the water.

"What's it look like?" Tatsumi said as the three of them all came ashore. Naruto couldn't help but blush when he saw the water falling off of the girls. Hinata giggled at him.

"You alright Naruto?" Karin asked as she wiped her face off with a towel and began to dry her hair.

"I'm fine," Naruto quickly said. "What's going on here? Weren't we just on a mission in the Land of Waves?"

"We finished that mission months ago! Where have you been?" Tatsumi exclaimed. "This is our vacation time!"

Hinata walked over to Naruto and wrapped her arms around his, making his blush deepen. "Come into the water with us Naru-kun," she cooed.

"I can't," Naruto said shaking his head. He then turned to look at Tatsumi, "You need to wake up out of this dream!"

"What dream? This is real," Tatsumi said with a confused look on his face.

'It's a Genjutsu Naruto. Be careful,' the Kyuubi warned.

'Got it,' Naruto replied. "Fine then. I'll make you wake up," he said as he made a few hand seals. Before he could finish the last one, the girls grabbed his wrists and pulled them away from each other as Tatsumi suddenly had his sword pointed at Naruto's throat.

"You never learn do you kid?" Tatsumi said. "Oh well. I guess I'll have to teach you the hard way." Tatsumi raised his sword and brought it down at Naruto's neck. Before the blade struck, Naruto yanked Karin towards him and pushed her into Tatsumi, making the attack strike nothing but air. Naruto then, with his free hand, grabbed Hinata by the wrist and threw her away from him.

Naruto made the same set of hand seals, this time finishing them."Genjutsu Release!" Naruto yelled. The beach disappeared along with the girls. They were now standing back in the forest that was Larka's realm inside of Tatsumi. Tatsumi stood up, no longer wearing his swim shorts but back in his ninja gear.

"Damn you," he said to Naruto.

"Release Tatsumi you bastard!" Larka said from out of nowhere as a giant paw smashed the ground where Tatsumi had just been standing before he jumped away. Naruto looked up and saw her glaring at Tatsumi.

"Not on your life," Tatsumi said casually.

Larka growled dangerously as she began to gather chakra around her muzzle; all nine of her tails curved towards the spot where the chakra was gathering. Blue and red orbs of chakra were combining into a massive black ball of dense chakra above Larka's head. Once the ball of chakra was much bigger than Larka herself, it shrunk down to the size of a basketball. Larka opened her mouth and swallowed the ball then looked at Tatsumi. "Take this! Tailed Beast Ball!" she yelled as she shot the chakra right at Tatsumi.

Tatsumi merely raised his hand up and caught the ball of chakra in his palm. "Using my own attack against me? You should know better than that," Tatsumi said as his voice changed to a completely different tone. It was much deeper now and gave Larka and Naruto a sense of dread as they listened to him. His eyes were no longer that purple color, but rather they were red. And not the Sharingan or Tailed Beast Cloak red either. They were that of a demon. No pupil, just a dark red covering every bit of his eye.

Naruto watched Tatsumi as he twirled the ball of chakra that had been previously been fired at him. "Wind Style: Severing Wind!" Naruto yelled as he sent a blade of wind in Tatsumi's direction. He put his hand up to catch the jutsu, but never felt it connect. Naruto didn't aim for Tatsumi, but rather the Tailed Beast Ball in his hand. The wind blade collided with the ball and set off a massive explosion that sent Naruto flying back into a tree causing him to vomit blood. Larka was knocked on her back, crushing a decent amount of forest as she landed. Tatsumi, of course, felt the full force of the attack as he was blasted up into the air.

Naruto looked up to see Tatsumi falling back to the ground very fast, but he didn't land. Tatsumi stopped a few feet above the ground as a dark chakra began to seep out of him. The dark chakra started to gather in one place above Tatsumi. Once it finished, Tatsumi fell on the ground. The dark chakra began to shape into the biggest monstrosity Naruto had ever seen. It became a beast with a slender body and one giant eye. The thing had long slender arms and legs. Behind it was ten massive tails. And to add to the evil aura coming from it, it was completely black except for the eye, which was red.

"I will destroy the both of you," the Ten-tails growled evilly.

"Naruto. Get Tatsumi and get back. There's no way you will be able to help in this fight," Larka said as she stood back up on her paws. Naruto nodded and ran for Tatsumi, who was directly under the Ten-tails.

"I don't think I'm gonna let you do that kid," the Ten-tails said when he saw Naruto running to Tatsumi. It raised one of it's arms and swung at Naruto. Larka quickly grabbed the arm in her mouth to give Naruto time to get to Tatsumi. As Naruto neared Tatsumi Larka threw the Ten-tails away from them.

"You are merely a small chunk of the real Ten-tails power. I'm going to have no problem destroying you!" Larka snarled at him. "And also for what you did to Tatsumi... That I cannot forgive!" Larka began to charge up another Tailed Beast Ball. The Ten-tails landed on his feet and began to charge chakra into his hands, aiming them at Larka.

"Die!" the Ten-tails growled as he shot the beams of chakra in his hands at Larka just as she fired her attack at him. The two attacks smashed together and exploded in midair. Almost as soon as the explosion happened, Larka lept forward with another smaller attack already charged up. Once she was through the smoke she fired the attack at the unsuspecting Ten-tails. Her attack smashed into the Ten-tails face and exploded, sending him crashing into the forest. Larka landed then lept back up into the air and sailed straight towards the Ten-tails. She slashed with her claws at the Ten-tails stomach area, her back paws landing on his legs. Her claws dug deep into his stomach as she began to charge up a large amount of smaller attacks. She pinned his arms down as she began firing the attacks at the Ten-tails. Each attack exploded as soon as it hit. His arms, chest area, stomach area, and face all took the brunt of the attacks. Larka then lept high up into the air and charged up a massive tailed beast ball.

"Take this you bastard. Tailed Beast Ball!" Larka yelled as she fired the attack straight down at the Ten-tails. He tried to block, but was unable to make it in time as the attack struck his chest. The explosion was devastating, causing Naruto to get knocked on his back from the shockwave. Larka landed back on the ground and glared into the smoke. Once it cleared, she saw the Ten-tails standing there glaring right back.

"You bitch. I'm gonna destroy you when I become whole again..." the Ten-tails said as he slowly began to disappear. "And you better watch Kurama kid. I'm going to destroy him too." The Ten-tails then disappeared completely.

Larka sighed. "I no longer sense him here inside of Tatsumi's body. He's gone. But I should warn you Naruto. There's a portion of him inside of Kurama that we will need to destroy. It shouldn't be a problem wince there will be two tailed beasts there next time."

Naruto nodded. "So does this mean that the real Tatsumi is awake now?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. He's out of the trance. You should get back there to him."

"Alright then. I'll see you again when we destroy the Tan-tails inside of Kurama," Naruto then closed his eyes. When he reopened them he had just finished head butting Tatsumi. Naruto landed back on his feet and watched Tatsumi.

Tatsumi rubbed his head where Naruto had head butted him. "Oww! What the hell happened?" he asked.

Naruto sighed and sat on the ground exhausted. "Good, the Ten-tails no longer has control of you," he said.

"Huh? The Ten-tails had control over me?" Tatsumi asked.

Naruto nodded and tried to say something but was cut off as Karin ran straight into Tatsumi, burying her face in his chest crying. "Don't you ever do something like that again!" she cried, hitting his chest with her fists. She wasn't trying to hurt him much, but needed to vent and he was the most perfect candidate. "I thought you were gone from us completely!"

Tatsumi wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him. "I'm never gonna let something like that happen again. I promise. Even though I have no clue as to what happened after Naruto stabbed me through the chest with his claws."

"We'll tell you later. Right now you have a bigger problem Tatsumi," Naruto said taking his first real good look at Tatsumi now.

A confused look came over Tatsumi's face. "What problem is that?" he asked. Naruto simply pointed to the top of his own head. Tatsumi moved his hand above his head. "What are talking abo- What the hell is that?!" Tatsumi yelled as he felt the ears. Apparently they were permanent ears and didn't just come with the transformation.

"Um, Tatsumi-kun. You also have another problem. Look behind you," Karin said.

Tatsumi turned his head to look behind and saw a pitch black tail swishing back and forth lazily. "Is that- is that a... tail?" Tatsumi asked. Tatsumi turned his head back to Karin who nodded. Tatsumi nodded with a weird look on his face. "Wolf ears and tail. I'm ok with this..." he said. The three of them were silent for a few moments before Tatsumi exploded. "I HAVE A WOLFS TAIL AND EARS! What the hell?!"

Karin giggled at his reaction. "It doesn't look bad Tatsumi," she said trying to make him see the good in them, even though they looked really weird on a human being.

At this point Naruto stood up and looked around. When he noticed Hinata he quickly rushed over to her. "Hina-chan! Are you alright?" he asked worriedly as he squatted down beside her.

"I'm alright, Naru-kun. Just a few scratches is all," she said trying to make herself sound better than what she actually felt.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked her, concern heavy in his voice. Hinata merely nodded trying to smile but failed. Her vision began to go blurry as she started to fall forward. Naruto luckily was already there to catch her. He held her bridal style and shook her slightly. "Hinata?!" he almost yelled trying to wake her up.

"She's just unconscious, Naruto-kun," Haku told him as she approached, limping badly. "Here. I'll heal her," Haku knelt down and made a few hand seals then placed her hands on Hinata's chest. Her wounds began to heal slowly but surely. "If you'd like I can heal you too," Haku said to Naruto as he watched.

"I'll be ok. Because of the Kyuubi sealed inside of me, I heal pretty fast," Naruto said not taking his eyes off Hinata. "But thank you, Haku-chan," Naruto said looking up and smiling.

"Ok," Haku said looking at Naruto, smiling back. She admired his face, especially the whisker shaped marks on it. For some reason that was her favorite feature about Naruto, except for his blue eyes. Haku shook her head slightly and turned her attention back to Hinata. 'He's in love with her. I wish it could be me, but anyone could clearly see that these two are meant for each other,' Haku thought to herself as a single tear rolled down her cheek. She hated these emotions. "At least you're not in critical danger," she said.

"And if I was, you'd be one of the first people I would ask to heal me," Naruto said encouragingly. Haku smiled brightly at his comment and continued to heal Hinata.

Back over with Tatsumi and Karin, Karin was trying to calm Tatsumi down about his new ears and tail but it wasn't going well. "Tatsumi calm down! I need to heal you!' Karin almost yelled at him.

"How can I calm down? I have a tail and wolf ears!" Tatsumi said. "They make me look ridiculous!"

Karin sighed and smacked the back of his head like Rin-sensei would. "Sit down here now!" she yelled at him this time. Tatsumi was caught off guard when she yelled at him. He quietly obeyed and sat down in front of her. She pulled up her sleeve and put it in front of Tatsumi. "Here. Bite," she told him.

"Huh? I'm not gonna bite you Karin-chan," Tatsumi said looking up at her.

"It's how I heal people. Now bite hard enough to draw blood," she ordered. Tatsumi reluctantly obeyed but not before giving Karin a look to question what he was doing which she ignored. He bit down on her arm and drew blood. Instantly he began to feel better as his wounds were healed. Karin closed her eyes. Whenever she used this power it always made her feel good. A blush soon spread across her face as the feeling grew more intense with each passing moment. She moaned slightly causing Tatsumi to release his bite on her.

"Are you ok?" he asked worriedly.

"Y-yes. I'm f-fine," Karin said trembling from the feeling. She was almost addicted to that feeling. It made her feel... well you get the idea. (A/N. Insert the "If you know what I mean" meme here. HAHA)

"You sure? You look like you have a bit of a fever," Tatsumi observed. Karin smiled and shook her head.

"I'm alright," she said.

"Ok then," Tatsumi stood up, his tail swishing back and forth slowly.

Meanwhile Zabuza walked back over to Rin, who was watching her subordinates. She couldn't help but snicker at her brother's new appearance. "How did your fight go?" Zabuza asked her as he approached.

Rin turned her attention to him. "It was fine. Until Tatsumi went crazy. Neko is over there," Rin said pointing to a pile of metal beams.

Zabuza looked over and saw Neko holding stomach where Tatsumi had stabbed her. "I'll be right back," he said as he began walking over to his old student. When he reached her she looked up at him.

"Z-Zabuza-sama..." Neko said taking in a painful breath.

"What happened to you Neko?" Zabuza asked as he squatted down.

"You paid more attention to Haku than me," she said coldly.

"I'm sorry Neko. I wish I could've been there more for you. If I could change the past I would," Zabuza told her.

"Heh. That's a funny thought..." Neko replied. "I have no regrets about what I did.  
>I'm gonna die soon anyway. My mission failed."<p>

"At least you can still die with some dignity left," Zabuza said to her, trying his best to comfort his old student.

"There is no dignity in the way that kid beat me. He tossed me around like a rag doll. Nobody would be able to have any dignity left. But at least he gets to feel his pride stabbed with that ridiculous tail," Neko chuckled at the last statement. The two of them were silent for a moment. "Zabuza-sama. Thank you for all that you did... I'm glad I got to die after I told you that..." A single tear rolled down her cheek as she closed her eyes for the last time in her life.

"Rest peacefully, Neko," Zabuza said bowing his head and saying a silent prayer as the life disappeared from Neko. Zabuza stood up and started to walk back over to Rin when he suddenly felt a threatening presence close by.

Tatsumi's ears twitched. "Somethings coming," he said turning to see what was happening. When he did he gasped at what he saw. Everyone had their attention on who just showed up.

"So Neko failed miserably and these fucking ninjas are still here. Pathetic," Gato said. He was standing in front of a group of about a hundred thugs all armed with some sort of weapon.

"Gato," Rin spat.

"I grow tired of waiting for the bridge builder to get killed. Now I will watch it happen with my eyes," he sneered at the group of ninja.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Zabuza said stepping towards the large group of men.

Every one of the thugs laughed "My, my, my. Brave aren't we? Or really stupid. Either way it doesn't matter to me. You're going to die here and now," Gato said chuckling.

"He's not the only one who will stop you," Rin said stepping up beside Zabuza. Her sword was raised. Zabuza smirked then drew his sword as well.

"May I have this dance of death with you?" he asked Rin, making a slight bow and offering his hand to her.

"You may," she curtsied back, taking his hand when she did.

"Would you two get a room?" Tatsumi yelled at them from where he was standing.

"Shut up, baka" Rin yelled back. Rin and Zabuza watched the thugs, waiting for them to make their move.

"Well if you aren't gonna come at us," Zabuza said.

"Then we are gonna come at you," Rin finished before charging towards the thugs. Zabuza followed shortly after.

"Kill them!" Gato shouted as the group of thugs ran towards the two attacking ninjas.

"Charge Cherubim!" Rin yelled as her blade became covered in white lightning. "Lightning Sweep!" she called swinging her blade in front of her. As she did the lightning arced through the air and struck a group of thugs directly in front of her, stopping their hearts in an instant. Zabuza lept up and over the lightning as he brought his sword down into a man's shoulder, slicing him in half from shoulder to opposite hip. The two of them stabbed and sliced at every enemy in a very coordinated fashion.

"Should we go help them?" Naruto asked as him and Haku walked over to Tatsumi, Karin and Tazuna. He was now holding the unconscious Hinata bridal style.

"Nah. Nechan and Zabuza-san seem to have everything under control. Nearly half of those thugs are dead already," Tatsumi said.

A few of the thugs got passed the two lethal ninjas and were heading straight for the group of genins.

"Haku. Can you hold Hinata for me?" Naruto asked. Haku nodded and took Hinata from his arms. "You ready for this Tatsumi?"

Tatsumi popped his neck, "Oh yeah." The two of them drew their weapons and charged at the small group of thugs. "Charge Seraphim!" Black lightning washed over Tatsumi's sword.

Naruto made a set of hand seals and called his jutsu out. "Severing Wind!" The blades of wind shot from the kunais in his hands. Both blades struck two unfortunate thugs in their chests. They were killed instantly.

"Chidori Light Blade!" Tatsumi yelled stabbing his sword into the chest of one guy and using the Chidori to stab another right behind him. Naruto quickly lept at another and stabbed him in the neck as Tatsumi used Naruto's shoulder as a stepping stone to slice the guy directly behind the one Naruto just killed. Tatsumi landed on a thugs chest driving Seraphim into his heart as he did. He then lept back doing a backflip and landed back by Naruto.

"They keep coming this way!" Naruto growled as he threw a few shuriken at one of the approaching thugs. All three shuriken struck in the chest, knocking the thug on his back.

"Yeah no kidding," Tatsumi said as he and Naruto stood back to back. They were now surrounded by the thugs. One of them ran and Tatsumi and swung his katana at Tatsumi's tail. Tatsumi pulled his tail back just before the katana hit. "Hey! Nobody. Touches. The. Tail!" Tatsumi yelled as he kicked the thug in the chest, crushing a few ribs before slicing Seraphim across his chest. The two of them continued to slice and dice the thugs as they drew near until only two were left. Both of the thugs towered over Tatsumi and Naruto and they wielded giant hammers.

"Hey Tatsumi how does that saying go? The bigger they are..." Naruto smirked.

"The harder they fall," Tatsumi finished as they both ran, ducking under the swings from the hammers. Tatsumi squatted down and sliced the legs that were closest to him on both thugs. Naruto used Tatsumi as a jumping platform to soar into the air and tossed kunai into each thugs neck. Both thugs fell down dead as a doornail.

"Too easy," Naruto said when he landed.

"I was expecting more of a challenge," Tatsumi scoffed and turned to see Zabuza and Rin killing the last thug around Gato.

Gato backed away in fear. All of his men were slaughtered in just a matter of minutes. "S-stay back!" he yelled as the two ninjas approached him.

"For nearly killing my subordinates," Rin said hold Cherubim in a stabbing position.

"And for using Neko like a tool you can just throw away like trash," Zabuza said as he raised his blade high into the air with a single hand.

"You will die here!" the two of them finished in unison. Rin and Zabuza charged forward at Gato who was frozen in fear. Rin stabbed her sword through Gato's chest and jumped up to avoid Zabuza's blade aimed for Gato's waist. Zabuza sliced Gato in half as Rin pulled Cherubim free from Gato's chest. She landed gracefully on Zabuza's sword after it sliced through Gato.

"That was quite the dance," Zabuza said to Rin.

"It was entertaining wasn't it?" she asked smiling at Zabuza.

"Get a room," Tatsumi yelled at them.

"Baka!" Rin yelled at him. Everyone all grouped back together. Naruto took Hinata back from Haku. "Nice tail by the way little brother," Rin laughed.

"Shut up teme!" Tatsumi shot back. Karin wrapped her arms around Tatsumi's arm.

"How's the rest of the bridge building crew?" Zabuza asked Tazuna.

"I took them all over there to the shade overhang while you were all fighting," Tazuna said.

Zabuza nodded, "Good."

"I need a nap," Tatsumi said yawning.

"We'll rest when we finish up here," Rin told him.

He nodded and turned to Karin. "I'm glad that you're ok. I don't know what I would've done if I lost you," he told her.

Karin smiled and hugged his arm closer to her. "I'm not gonna leave your side Tatsumi-kun," she said smiling. Tatsumi grinned cheesily at her, his tail swishing back and forth in a happy manner.

"There's no way I will ever be able to get used to this damned tail," Tatsumi said as he noticed the swishing. Everyone laughed.

The next few weeks flew by as the bridge was finished being built. For the first week all the genins stayed at Tazuna's house while Rin and Zabuza went to the bridge to be guards. The two of them had grown quite fond of each other over the course of this journey. Tatsumi and Naruto slept for well over a week while Karin, Hinata, and Haku only slept for a few days. Once they were all awake Naruto told Tatsumi about the Ten-tails and what needed to be done to remove him from Kurama. The girls were all shocked to hear of such a creature. Worry was over all three of their faces as Naruto and Tatsumi sat across from each other, their fists bumped so Tatsumi could enter Naruto's mind. The battle to remove the Ten-tails from Kurama was very quick. The two twin nine tailed beasts made short work of the Ten-tails portion inside of Kurama. This battle also resulted in the destruction of the seal that held the Kyuubi inside of Naruto. But Kurama decided he liked Having Naruto as a partner, even though he would never admit it. Finally the bridge was finished and the group of ninja all stood at the side that was connected to the mainland. A good portion of the town was there to see them off. Naruto grinned at Inari who grinned right back. The Leaf shinobi and two rogue ninjas left the Great Naruto Bridge, a name that Inari thought up, and began to head back to the Hidden Leaf village.

As soon as they reached the Leaf village the group split up. Rin took Zabuza and Haku to the Hokage's office to have them registered as Leaf shinobi and to give her mission report. Naruto went to his apartment and dropped off his bags and then headed towards the Hyuuga mansion to get Hinata. Hinata went to her place and changed into some casual clothing. She still wore her black pants, but had a sundress as her top instead of her ninja armor and her jacket. She still wore her headband around her neck. She ran out of the Hyuuga mansion and met Naruto almost there. She smiled when she saw him which he returned to her. She then ran up to him and kissed him, her confidence had risen greatly since she first talked to him. The two of them then began to head in the direction of Ichiraku Ramen.

Tatsumi went to his and Rin's apartment to drop off his bags. As he walked out of his apartment he nearly ran in Karin who was heading to her own apartment. "Wait you live here too?" Tatsumi asked.

Karin nodded, "I live another floor up. Want to come in? I can make you lunch."

Tatsumi smiled and swished his tail happily, "I would love to." Karin smiled as she led Tatsumi upstairs to her own apartment. She opened the door and walked to her room, setting her bag on her bed.

"What would you like to eat?" she asked him.

"Whatever you would like to cook," Tatsumi smiled.

"Ok!" Karin smiled back at him and began to cook lunch.

"It's over. We have nowhere left to go," a man said. He was kneeling in the middle of a battlefield, the battle long over with it seemed. All that remained now was death and corruption. He wore a gray kimono with another much shorter one and had no sleeves over it. The top one was a dark blue with a white outlining around the edges, and a sash that was wrapped around his waist served as a belt. It also held the sheath for his sword. The man had long dark hair and a thin head band that wasn't fully connected on his forehead wrapped around him. "This is it. Our road ends here," he said, his voice full of shame.

One of his comrades was lying on the ground nearby. He was exhausted from the battle that went on. He wore a kimono of the same color as his comrades, but half of it revealed a black short sleeved kimono under it. The right sleeve looked like it had been torn off. His hair was much shorter and not as dark. He also had a small beard on his stern looking face. And around his neck was a necklace of rather large beads. "It was a fool's decision, doomed from the start," he said quietly and a little raspy.

"This is the end. We must turn back," a third man said. He wasn't wearing a kimono, but instead a paid of gray pants with a robe over the top of them. It was dark blue with teal outlining on the top portion. The bottom portion was outlined in white. A sash was wrapped around his waist serving as a belt. Over his head he wore a hat that made him seem taller than what he was. From ear to ear coming around behind his head there was a simple cloth attached to the hat. Over his face, was white and red war paint. The red covered his eyes, mouth, and part of his nose.

"There is a way. Have faith," a woman said. She wore a light green kimono with a gray sash tied around her waist. Next to her there was a sword jutting out of the ground. Under the kimono she had gray pants and sandals similar to that of a shinobi. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail. As she spoke, the wind around her and her comrades blew lightly across the battlefield. "I know that we will find it," she said confidently.

"But Princess..." the first man said.

The woman turned as she spoke, her green eyes showing nothing but determination in them. "You mustn't give up," she said to them encouragingly.

"Princess..." the second man said watching her.

All of a sudden the wind picked up as a storm was created in an instant behind a man wearing long dark robes. He held a staff that had two horns sat atop it in his right hand that seemed to be glowing from something. His evil laughed filled the ears of the four people there. "Princess Gale! This is as far as you go!" the man yelled over the wind as a dozen or so twisters spun behind him.

"Mao?!" the first man said angrily, getting to his feet as the other two did the same, all three of them now brandishing their weapons. The first man held a katana in his hands, standing in a kenjutsu stance. The second man held a long spear with scythe looking blades under the spearhead. And as for the third man, he wielded a rather large scimitar with practiced ease.

"Don't tell us this storm is your doing!" the third man yelled angrily.

The man, Mao, simply snickered as a suit of armor that was lying on the ground suddenly rose and swung its sword at the Princess.

"Watch out behind you Princess," Tatsumi yells out form out of nowhere.

Princess Gale quickly and smoothly dodges the attack, grabbing her longsword form the ground and holding it a stabbing pose before sending a blast of wind into the suit of armor, shattering it to pieces. All around the battlefield, suits of armor begin to rise up from the ground, all holding weapons, and all looking towards the group of four. (Suddenly I Will Not Bow by Breaking Benjamin plays in the background)

Mao laughs, "Give up, Princess! Fall to you knees and bow before me, the rightful ruler of this world!"

"I will never give in to you," the princess said causing Mao to glare at her angrily. "For as long as I live I will gather my strength and create a path for others to follow on!" she said with great determination, as chakra began to flow around her. However, this chakra seemed to glow in the colors of a rainbow.

"Her Rainbow Chakra is flaring up!" the first man said shocked.

The third man turned to the other two, "My brothers. We must give the princess the power of our chakra too!"

"Right!" the other two said in unison as the three of them moved in front of Princess Gale to protect her. All four of them now had their chakra flaring to life and fusing into the princess' next attack. Meanwhile Mao had begun to spit his staff around wildly, sending a dark attack at the group, sneering as he saw the attack closing in fast.

Suddenly the attack struck what seemed like a wall of chakra, sending off large gusts of wind, knocking all the armor warriors to pieces. Rainbow Chakra spun around the ground before converging into one spot; the blade that Princess Gale was wielding. She let loose a ferocious battle cry as she stabbed her sword forward aimed at Mao, sending the rainbow coated attack straight at him. The attack knocked him out of sight. Meanwhile a bright white light came down from the sky, clearing the storm away.

Tatsumi sat amazed, his eyes glued to the scene that was playing out in front of him. The four warriors stood watching the horizon as a rainbow appeared across the sky.

Tatsumi suddenly was giggling before screaming, "Alright! Princess Gale, you rule!"

A movie theater attendant came running from a door and looked up at the four ninja standing on the ceiling. "What the hell are you doing up there?!" he yelled angrily as the music from the movie played.

Tatsumi lost the grip his feet had on the ceiling and fell down onto the floor hard. He sat up, rubbing his head. "What's your problem?" he asked angrily.

"Don't you dare play stupid with me! You all snuck in here without paying!" the man yelled.

"Now you don't understand! I was getting some training in while I watched the movie!" Tatsumi explained waving his arm in front of him.

"Training for what?" the man asked confused as the other three genin all jumped down from the ceiling, holding their tickets up.

"We have tickets," Karin said.

"What are ninja from the Leaf Village doing here?" the movie attendant asked.

"Like I said! We were getting some training in before- OOF!" Tatsumi was cut off as a box of popcorn smashed into his face. Other objects were being thrown at this time too.

"Shut up!" somebody yelled as more and more trash was thrown at the ninja.

"Come. Let's push on. Our fate lies beyond the rainbow!" Princess Gale said on the movie screen as trash continued to be thrown at the ninjas who quickly escaped out of the theater. They ran to an alley behind the theater and stopped by a wooden fence that was supposed to be their rendezvous point with Rin to give them mission briefings.

As Naruto and Hinata sat on a few boards that were by the fence Karin leaned against the gate that was also part of the fence. Tatsumi sat on the ground staring up at the billboard advertising the movie they had just seen. "That was a great movie," Tatsumi said smiling, his tail swishing back and forth casually as his ears flapped to the side lazily.

"You idiot! We didn't get to see the whole thing because somebody had to get us out!" Naruto yelled from across the yard.

Tatsumi's ears twitched slightly irritated at Naruto for disturbing his thoughts. "Oh come on. She's not that pretty," Karin said tapping Tatsumi's leg with her foot.

"That's not what I'm doing. That was seriously the greatest movie I've ever seen," he said to her.

Karin just scoffed as she walked back over to where she was standing. "I wonder why Rin-sensei wanted us to watch that movie before briefing us on our mission," Hinata said quietly.

Naruto shrugged, "Who knows?"

Just then the sound of galloping hooves could be heard on the other side of the fence. The four genins all stood up as they saw a woman on a white horse jump over the fence. All faces were shocked to see Princess Gale from the movie they had just watched on the back of the horse.

"Get after her!" a voice yelled as the horse landed and the gate flew open, sending Tatsumi rolling on the dirt and almost causing Karin to fall on the boards that Naruto and Hinata were sitting on. Going through the gate were a bunch of the suits of armor from the movie and being led by somebody they didn't know.

Tatsumi growled, his ears laying flat against his head. "That does it!" he yelled before charging after the group of men on horseback.

"Right behind ya! Believe it!" Karin yelled as she ran after him. Both of them quickly got onto the rooftops, following close behind the horses.

Naruto and Hinata sighed in unison. "Guess we better go," Naruto said as he and Hinata lept off in pursuit of their friends.

The princess urged her horse faster as she twisted through the street. People screamed as they almost got trampled by the white horse, shortly followed by the rest of the horses. Three of the men quickly turned a corner to get in front of the princess. Soon they emerged in the street ahead of the princess. One of the men threw a net at Princess Gale causing her to stop, rearing her horse. Before the net reached her it was shredded by shuriken, all of which stuck in the ground.

"RRGH!" Tatsumi growled as he knocked one of the guards off his horse, before jumping up and sending a double roundhouse kick to the other two guards. Princess Gale used this momentary distraction to run past Tatsumi and the downed guards.

They continued to follow the guards and princess. Karin lept up beside Tatsumi. "Follow her, the rest of us will provide a distraction," she said as she transformed into the princess and used a Genjutsu to create a white horse that looked like the real one. She turned down a street, the opposite way the real princess went. The guards followed Karin, while Naruto and Hinata followed close by them from the roof tops.

"Damn these guys are persistent," Naruto groaned as they came to a large set of stairs which Karin, in her transformation, jumped from the top of. Two of the guards threw two round bottles of what looked like oil at the ground below. Karin actually landed and slipped on, pissing her off severely. She skidded a little on the ground.

"Get here!" the man wearing no armor and glasses yelled. At that all the guards jumped from their horses and tackled the "princess." She struggled greatly but was being held down due to the weight of the men and their armor. "Now we've got you," the man said. Suddenly Naruto appeared on his horse and sent a fist into his jaw, knocking him off his horse and straight into Terra firma. All the guards looked up to see the man fall before getting knocked away themselves by the girl they thought to be the princess.

Karin stood up, no longer looking like the princess. Her malicious intent gave Naruto the chills. "You perverts!" she yelled and kicked one guard square in the face before turning to the rest. They all fell back, quivering before getting up and running away only to be met by Naruto's Shadow Clones and Hinata in her Gentle Fist stance. All at once the teammates began their assault. Naruto clones held onto the guards and Karin and Hinata disabled them. Hinata using her Gentle Fist to numb their arms and legs, while Karin merely punch them hard. Once they were done, the Genins tied up the guards.

Just as they were dusting off their hands they heard a voice call out to them. "What the hell are you guys doing?!" the voice was very annoyed. Naruto felt a hard smack to the back of his head.

"OWW!" he cringed, holding his head with both hands.

Karin shrugged, "Killing time."

Suddenly every rope that had the guards and man wearing glasses tied was cut apart. Rin helped the man up and put her hand behind her head. "I'm really sorry about all this Sandayu-san," Rin said apologetically.

"HUH?" Naruto and Karin said in unison. Hinata had a puzzled look on her face as she stepped next to Naruto.

"This is the man that hired us for our mission," Rin explained as he bowed to the young ninja, who all had horrified looks on their face.

"Oh," Naruto said.

"Damn," Karin finished the statement.

All three bowed their head to everyone in the area. "We're sorry! We didn't know!" they all apologized in unison.

Sandayu chuckled, waving their apologies off. "There's no need for that. I understand how it looked and I apologize myself for it." The trio looked up at the man who was smiling kindly at them. "They will do well protecting her," he concluded after examining them for a moment. "But wasn't there a fourth one?" Sandayu asked.

"Oh yeah! Where is that baka?" Rin asked looking around.

Princess Gale sat by a pond with her knees up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them with her chin resting on her arms. Her horse was drinking water beside her. "Are you ok?" Tatsumi asked from out of nowhere. Princess Gale barely turned her head to see who it was. "WOW! It really is you! I just saw your movie and you were awesome!" Tatsumi exclaimed.

Princess Gale merely gave him a bored look before getting on her horse and dashing away, knocking Tatsumi into the pond. "Watch it!" he yelled and quickly began to follow her. Soon he was running along side of the horse. "Wait up!" he yelled to her. She only urged her horse faster. It pulled away from Tatsumi despite his best efforts to keep pace. "Damnit," Tatsumi said to himself before charging his feet with lightning chakra. "Lightning Style: Quick Dash!" Tatsumi said as his speed increased tenfold. Due to his increase in speed he easily got in front of the horse and activated his Sharingan.

Using his partially active dojutsu, he locked eyes with the horse. Suddenly the horses eyes shifted to the Sharingan and stopped it's movements altogether, just inches from Tatsumi. "I'm just here to talk to you, lady," Tatsumi sighed.

"About what kid?" Princess Gale asked angrily.

"About why those guys were chasing you. So why were they?" Tatsumi inquired.

"It's none of your business," she said pulling out a spray can from her sleeve and spraying it in Tatsumi's eyes.

Tatsumi yelled in agony as the spray hit him. He closed his eyes quickly and began to rub them furiously. "What the hell is this?!" he yelled.

"Pepper spray for people like you who get in my way," she said simply and urged her horse into town and away from Tatsumi.

Tatsumi quickly found a bucket of water and dunked his whole head in while rubbing his eyes at the same time. "Damn that woman!" he yelled under water, which he found to be a bad mistake as he swallowed a large mouthful of water. He quickly shot up out of the bucket and began coughing and hacking, while stepping back and falling off the road, tumbling down into a pile of rocks, hitting his head and knocking him unconscious.

Hinata and Karin sat staring at a wall covered in pictures of the movie set. Most of the were of the actress Yukie Fujikaze, aka, Princess Gale. Naruto merely sat there listening to the director praise Yukie on how great of an actress she is. That was when the three males from the movie showed up, making Karin squeal. She had to admit that she had a crush on the leader of them, but would never tell Tatsumi that. "You guys were great in the movie!" she complimented them.

"Thanks," the first one, known as Sukeakuro, said, his smile almost making Karin melt in her chair.

Hinata merely shrugged, while Naruto rolled his eyes at his cousin. Hinata turned and looked at the pictures again, her eyes landing on a large glacier formation. "Wow. Those glaciers are beautiful," she said quietly.

"That's the Rainbow Glacier in the Land of Snow. That's where we are going to be shooting the final scene of the next movie," the second one said. This was Shishimaru speaking this time. "They say it's supposed to turn seven different colors in spring." Hinata looked wide eyed at the picture. She would love to see that with Naruto beside her.

"That's an old legend," Rin interjected. "In truth, the Land of Snow never has any spring."

"So you mean, it's winter all year long Rin-sensei?" Naruto asked

"Exactly. I've also heard it's a very poor land due to the previous ruler spending most of the fortune on worthless gadgets," she said.

"Rin was it?" the director asked, earning a nod form Rin. "From what I've heard, you've been to the Land of Snow."

"No. But my former sensei has, and that was a long time ago from what he has said," Rin said.

"Did Yukie always run like this?" Karin asked after regaining her composure, somewhat.

"No. She didn't start to act like this until she found out we were going to be going to the Land of Snow," Sukeakuro said. The others nodded agreement.

"Hmm. I'll need to talk to Kakashi before we leave tomorrow. So if you will excuse me for a little while. Naruto, Hinata, and Karin. Go and try to find Tatsumi and Yukie. It won't matter if Tatsumi misses the boat, but we can't have Yukie missing it," Rin said before disappearing in puff of smoke. The Leaf genin all stood up and walked off the set of the movie.

'Those kids are going to be a problem,' one of the assistants who had came up midway through the conversation thought to himself. 'I'll need to warn Doto-sama soon.'

"Kakashi-sensei. What can you tell me of the Land of Snow and Yukie Fujikaze?" Rin asked her sensei as they stood atop a roof just outside of town.

"The Land of Snow huh? I haven't been there in a long time," Kakashi began. "It's a nation that's winter all year round. Ruled by a man named Doto Kazahana, younger brother of the late Sosetsu Kazahana. Doto hired Snow ninja to lead a revolt, hoping to steal the family fortune. I was sent in there to get his daughter out of the fray before she could get killed. What happened to her after that, I don't know. As for Yukie Fujikaze, she an actress that has recently became very popular. That's pretty much all their is to know about her. Her past is kept hidden from everyone. Why do you want to know all this, Rin?"

"Me and my team are going to the Land of Snow tomorrow and I knew you had been there before. I was wanting more information on the matter. Are their any enemy ninja I should be expecting?"

"Quite possibly, but I doubt it. They all use Ice Style ninjutsu and wear chakra armor that absorbs most ninjutsu and Genjutsu. Taijutsu is about the only thing effective against their armor."

"Is there anything else I should know Kakashi-sensei?"

"If you do encounter enemy ninja, they may well be after a gem know as the Hex Crystal. Be on the lookout for it. If memory serves me correctly, Princess Koyuki Kazahana would be wearing it."

"Thank you sensei," Rin finished and disappeared.

"Be safe kiddo," Kakashi said after she disappeared.

Tatsumi walked through the town, trying to find any trace of Yukie. He walked for what seemed like hours trying to find her. As the sky got dark he shook his head in frustration. "Damnit! It wouldn't matter if I missed the boat, but she needs to be on there before we leave," Tatsumi groaned then looked up. He was staring right into Yukie's eyes. "Heh, found ya. Now what saw we head to the boat, Princess Gale," Tatsumi said, smirking slightly.

"Not a chance," she said walking into one of the bars nearby. Tatsumi followed her in. She ordered a bottle of sake and sat at the bar. Tatsumi sat beside her and looked around the room. Besides them two and the bartender, there was only one other man in there. He was sitting in a corner with his back turned to them drinking.

"How about this then? If I can beat you in drinking, you will come to the boat. If not I won't follow you anymore," Tatsumi proposed.

"You drinking? HAHA!" Yukie laughed. "I would win in an instant. You're probably a lightweight kid."

"Try me. I'll even pay for the sake," Tatsumi challenged.

"You're on brat," she said pouring two saucers of sake. She quickly downed hers as Tatsumi drank his slowly.

'Rin's gonna kick my ass for this, but whatever,' Tatsumi thought to himself as he poured another drink for them both. They went back and forth for a while, both of them with a matching amount of drinks consumed. Yukie was already red in the face and feeling really woozy, while Tatsumi kept a straight face the entire time. The man at the back of the room stood up and laid his money on the counter before turning to walk out of the bar. he kept his face hidden as he slowly walked forward. Tatsumi paid no mind to him as he passed by, taking another drink. He failed to notice the man cast a glance at Yukie's neck before walking towards the door. Suddenly it burst open as Naruto, Hinata, Karin, and Rin ran into the room. They were shortly followed by Sandayu. The man noted their presence and left quietly.

'Five total, huh? And two of them are Jinchuuriki. Good,' the man thought before leaving.

"Tatsumi-kun, What are you doing?" Karin asked walking up beside him.

"Enjoying a few drinks," he shrugged.

"How many have you had?" Rin asked quietly, yet a little dangerously.

"I lost count about eight drinks ago," Tatsumi said, smirking at Yukie who downed another drink, gaining one more on him. Tatsumi poured himself a drink and downed it in an instant.

"Yukie, please. We must get to the boat tonight so it can leave first thing in the morning," Sandayu pleaded.

"Whatever," Yukie shrugged. "I'm cutting out as an actress. I mean lead actresses change from movie to movie and directors are even worse than th-" She was cut off by Sandayu's outburst.

"That's enough! You've got so much potential to let it go to waste like that," he said. She looked at him for a moment before taking another drink, Tatsumi matching it, then taking another to claim the lead.

"I believe I'm ahead now," he said, his face starting to redden from the alcohol consumption.

"For now brat," Yukie said pouring two drinks and downing them. "But I've got to admit. You're a pretty heavy drinker for a kid."

"That's because he's using a Genjutsu on himself to keep from feeling the effects of the alcohol," Rin said.

"WHAT?!" Yukie roared. "You're cheating!"

"You never said I couldn't use any jutsu," Tatsumi said matter of factly.

Yukie growled but then sat back down. He was right. She took two more drinks. She was now ahead by three. But the last two drinks did their damage. Yukie started to feel very woozy as she began to sway back and forth, her vision going from blurry to normal every few seconds.

Tatsumi stood up and activated his Sharingan. The tomoe beginning to spin. "You need rest Yukie," Tatsumi said as Yukie was transfixed before falling asleep and being caught by Rin before hitting the ground. That was when Rin noticed a peculiar crystal hanging around Yukie's neck. Her eyes widened for moment before going back to normal.

"Release the Genjutsu, baka," Rin told her little brother.

"I'd rather not until I'm on the boat and in my bed," Tatsumi said taking a wobbly step.

Rin sighed. "Naruto, Hinata? Can you two help this idiot?" she asked them.

"Sure," Naruto and Hinata said together.

"Hold up," Tatsumi said turning to the bartender. "How much?"

The man looked at the three empty bottles. "900 ryo," he said taking the bottles off the counter top. Tatsumi nodded and placed 1200 ryo on the counter.

"Keep the change," Tatsumi said before turning to the door and walking wobbly to it with the help of Naruto and Hinata.

"Thank you," the bartender said. With that they left and went towards the boat. It took nearly twenty minutes to go the short distance to the docks due to the bumbling idiot known as Tatsumi.

Once at the boat, Karin took Tatsumi to his room and sat him down on the bed while Rin took Yukie to her room. Naruto and Hinata slipped into their room after telling everyone good night. "Have you ever drank Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked as she slipped her shoes off by the door.

Naruto shook his head. "Nope. What about you?" he asked.

"My father let me try some once. I nearly destroyed an entire building because of it," she said embarrassed.

Naruto was dumbstruck. "A w-whole building?" he asked, nearly choking on his words.

Hinata nodded. "I used a style of fighting known as Drunken Gentle Fist. Needless to say, Father has never let me have anymore since then," she said smiling lightly at the memory.

"Th-that's crazy!" Naruto nearly yelled. "I would hate to spar against you like that."

Hinata giggled at him before embracing him. She looked up into his eyes and smiled. Naruto smiled back before kissing her. She was shocked at first, but smiled and kissed him back.

Over across the hall Tatsumi had released his Genjutsu and now was a babbling idiot. "Baka!" Karin said to him as he tried to hold her close to him. Normally Karin would've been more than happy to oblige, but he was drunk.

"Karin-chan!" Tatsumi whined before falling back on his bed, giggling.

"No more drinking for you!" she scolded him.

"Hey it got Yukie on this boat didn't it?" Tatsumi asked seriously before giggling again.

"Yes it did. Now go to sleep," Karin told him sternly.

"I need to go to the bathroom first," Tatsumi jumped up and fell face first on the floor. Karin smacked her forehead.

"Baka," she groaned. Faint snores could be heard coming form Tatsumi as he had fallen asleep. She smiled and pulled him up onto the bed covering him up before laying down next to him and falling asleep shortly. And not long after that the entire boat fell silent. Nobody was awake. Tomorrow, the journey to the Land of Snow would begin.

"Doto, I have news of Koyuki and the Hex Crystal," the made said. He wore a black robe with a red cloud pattern on. He carried twin katanas across his back and two more behind his back, one going to the left while the other went right.

"Go ahead," a large man said from the shadows. He was sitting in a throne like chair. His eyes never left screen in front of him. It was playing the movie the genins had just previously watched.

"She is on her way here. My informant was able to confirm she had the Hex Crystal. He also said that there will ninja joining her. Five in total, but they are genins and one Jounin. Not too much of a problem," the man said.

"Did he describe the Jounin?" a man said who was kneeling beside Doto's throne along with two more. Their headbands showing that they were Snow ninja.

"A female with purple hair and pale eyes is what he said," the man told them.

"Sounds like Kakashi Hatake's student," a female voice said.

"That's not all. I was told that there will be two Jinchuuriki with them," the man in the cloak said. "Do you have the devices ready?"

Doto shifted in his seat. "Yes. We have them ready to use as per request of your leader," Doto said, somewhat uneasy.

"Good," the man smirked. "We'll see what they can do when their chakra is cut off completely." The man chuckled darkly before disappearing.


End file.
